Miroslav Remeta (source: SITA)
The Financial Administration allegedly prepared a criminal motion against construction company Dúha, owned by Prešov-based businessman Miroslav Remeta, concerning alleged tax evasion from last year, but it was never sent to police, the Sme daily reported.
MP Lucia Nicholsonová of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) has brought attention to the case. She said that the company has not paid some €1.1 million in taxes and that this is another example of fraud covered by the Financial Administration.
Dúha is currently working on the Višňové tunnel, the longest tunnel in Slovakia and part of the cross-country D1 highway between Bratislava and Košice. Its construction is valued at €0.5 billion.
The Financial Administration has denied any wrongdoing and says that the criminal complaint does not exist.
Its representatives meanwhile told the press that they are investigating Remeta for the sum of €3 million, Sme reported.
The alleged motion to launch investigation
“The criminal authority continues its investigation and could not have prepared any criminal complaint yet,” said the Adminstration’s spokesperson Patrícia Macíková, as quoted by Sme.
The Denník N daily reported it has obtained the criminal complaint dated to September 2016. They say that part of it includes a detailed description showing that Dúha did not pay €1.1 million on various types of taxes.
The motion to start an investigation, however, has never been received by the police. Denník N reported that the investigation was halted last August, before the witnesses were heard.
The daily referred to the statement of Spokesperson for the Special Prosecutor’s Office Jana Tökölyová, who confirmed that the office has no information about the investigation of Dúha and its managers.
“The statutory representatives of Dúha illegitimately reduced their own tax duties by claiming the deliberate costs based on the invoices from the abovementioned companies,” reads the document which, according to Denník N, is a motion to start the investigation.
Dúha allegedly carried out the activities in question between 2013 and 2016.
Dúha reportedly reduced its income tax by €629,000 via the artificially increased costs. Moreover, it decreased the VAT by further €482,000 via artificial trades.
Since the invoices were issued by companies that are linked to Dúha, the Financial Administration suspects that Remeta and three members of the company’s board of directors knew about the fictitious trades, Sme wrote.
Company does not comment
The tax criminalists have already performed a raid of Dúha and took documents concerning its accountancy but returned the documents last December. The tax officers have refused the claim that this action aided Dúha, Sme reported.
The company refuses to comment on the allegations.
