Raid against eco-criminals: Suspected of laundering half a billion

The Ecocrime Authority has raided several addresses in Sweden and Latvia.

Eight people are now suspected of business money laundering for close to half a billion kroner.

– The operation has gone according to plan, says preliminary investigation leader Sanna Nesser.

An invoice writing company in Stockholm and Latvia is suspected of having made it possible for a large number of companies to pay for black labor in the construction industry.

The criminal scheme has, among other things, involved the “customer companies” having paid false invoices to the invoice company.

This, in turn, has made it possible for the companies to pay out money for undeclared work.

The Ecocrime Authority suspects that the suspects have collected close to half a billion kroner via the fake invoices.

But on Tuesday, the authorities, together with the international task force, raided five addresses in Stockholm and several addresses in Latvia.

– Eight suspects have been detained. They will now be heard before we take a position on the detention issue, says Sanna Nesser, head of preliminary investigation and chamber prosecutor at EBM in Stockholm.

“systemic threat”

The crime, which is described as both extensive and well-organized, is suspected to have been going on since 2021. According to the Ecocrime Authority, it has made it more difficult for serious construction companies to compete with the companies that paid for black labor.

– This is system-threatening and socially damaging activity that has been going on for many years. In addition to multi-million sums being evaded in tax, it distorts competition within the construction industry in particular and enables unscrupulous companies to use construction workers without taking the employer’s responsibility that comes with having their own employees, says Sanna Nesser.

The money they received is suspected to have been used for, among other things, the purchase of cars which were then exported and sold abroad.

Raids at several addresses

The crime was discovered after the Swedish Tax Agency sounded the alarm about the suspicious activity.

Several raids have been made in both homes and business premises.

– We have made extensive seizures during the operation, which we will now go through and analyze. It concerns documents, computers, telephones and other material. Account balances have also been secured, cash, cars and other valuables have been seized, says Susanna Olofsson, investigation manager.