Lydia Spencer-Elliott
THE husband of the head of Spain’s Anti-Fraud Office has been caught running a tax evasion network by the National Court and The Tax Agency (AEAT).
A total of 500 Spanish accounts have evaded taxes to be paid in Andorra and Switzerland through Margarita García-Valdecasas husband, Alejandro Pérez Calzada.
Authorities raided the couple’s home in June 2016 after a secret investigation discovered Pérez Calzada had facilitated tax evasion for several Spanish funds.
Half a year later, García-Valdecasas was fired from her position at the helm of the Anti-Fraud Office.
The former boss is believed to have benefited from her husband’s network, with suspicious transfers totalling €28,450 identified in her bank statements.
El Confidencial has reported that Pérez Calzada’s network consisted of financial managers who used front businesses and faux company figureheads to avoid tax.
Investigations into the criminal organisation began when a former employee of HSBC bank discovered a list detailing the names of the tax evaders and leaked it to authorities.
Dubbed the ‘Falciani list’, the inquiry was then named after the HSBC worker Hervé Falciani.
The National Court and AEAT then began to cleverly divert funds through Andorra and Switzerland through tax havens like Panama, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Ireland to catch the crooks at their own game.
