Stock image. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
No website, usually a foreign owner, and there is pretty much no way to get in touch with them. Despite this, such companies generated sales in the tens to hundreds of millions of euros in Slovakia.
However, there is a "but", and that is the suspicion that some Slovak companies functioned as a dirty money launderer or a means of obtaining VAT refunds.
Index magazine, The Slovak Spectator's sister publication, looked at the stories of the ten biggest defaulters of the Financial Administration, Slovakia's supreme tax authority. In addition to large debts, they are also linked to several uncertainties and questions.
10. Venas
Arrears: €16.7 million
Headquarters: Prešov
Business area: Agricultural commodities trade
There is a rich history behind the company, founded in 2001 and long-time businessman Peter Vesprémy involved in it for a long time. At first, Venas traded in agrarian commodities and grew cereal crops; later it started to process them and produce biofuels.
In its prime, Venas had annual revenues of around €44 million, which started to decline from 2013. It became clear that the company did not pass Financial Administration inspections. According to their later findings, the company was supposed to create conditions for the application of fictitious VAT returns.
