The Romanian Police conducted 93 home searches on Tuesday, March 17, in a tax evasion case of over USD 300 million, possibly the biggest such case ever investigated in Romania.

The judicial authorities said they were trying to break four crime rings suspected of tax evasion and money laundering in the video chat service sector. They already seized bank accounts containing more than USD 15 million belonging to the suspects, as well as five houses and six cars.

The investigators also took nine people in for questioning.

Almost 400 police officers participated in the raids that the authorities organised in the capital Bucharest, and in the Buzau, Bacau, Sibiu, Timis and Ilfov counties. The Police targeted not only the homes of the suspects, but also the locations of some video chat studios and some banking units.

“The first investigations showed that the suspects made money transfers worth more than USD 300 million via accounts opened at two local banks,” according to a Police statement.

The suspects apparently used an offshore firm to manage international payments in order to avoid paying taxes for revenues made in Romania.

This investigation brings to surface the large amplitude of the video chat industry in Romania, as this tax dodging case, if proven, dwarfs the biggest fraud cases recorded in Romania's fuel sector and food sector.

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editor@romania-insider.com