That way, gang drug money can be turned into income for whites.

Reveals: 393 of 676 designated gang members without taxes

Of: Christoffer Nilsson, Johanna Rapp, Mattias Sandberg

Published: October 19, 2020 at 07.33

He was flagged as a gang offender and has earned close to a quarter of a million crowns for what prosecutors suspect may be criminal activity.

But the money turns white when the Tax Agency forces the man to pay VAT for his “business”.

– We have received stricter requirements to prove where the money comes from, which makes things easier for those who engage in criminal activity, says Pia Bergman, a financial crime expert at the Swedish Revenue Agency.

According to the police, the man, who is 25 years old, belongs to a criminal network. For more than 10 years he has been convicted of various crimes, including illegal deprivation of liberty and robbery.

For two years, the man has regularly received deposits into his bank account, often even amounts such as SEK 500 or 1,000 through Swish, or by making deposits through an ATM near the man’s home.

A total of about 230,000 crowns.

The Swedish Revenue Agency reacted to the fact that the man who had been unemployed for long periods received undeclared deposits in his account.

They considered that he was involved in some form of sales activity and that the deposits constituted payments:

“Given that the business has apparently been carried out for a long time and most likely also for profit, the Swedish Revenue Agency makes the assessment that your business is attributable to commercial activities.”

The man himself has not given any explanation to the Tax Agency.

During the man’s business activities, he has been convicted of drug-related offenses. He is now awaiting a new verdict regarding drug-related crimes, after police found a small amount of cannabis in his home.

According to Stefan Lundberg, chief prosecutor at the Swedish Environmental Crimes Agency, it can be suspected that the money comes from the crime.

– To me, it smells of criminal activity, says Lundberg.

Why?

– These amounts are so uniform. I have a hard time seeing a legal explanation for this, especially in combination with what is known about their lives. In law enforcement, we see Swish transfers as a risky process, he says.

According to Pia Bergman, an expert in financial crimes at the Swedish Tax Agency, it is difficult to prove that it is criminal activity.

– In Sweden, there are very few things that are not taxable, but purely criminal proceeds are not. Even if we think something criminal is going on, we have to ask questions about where the money is coming from and it is very rare for someone to say “I made the money selling cocaine.” Then we can suspect it, but if it can’t be displayed, we can count it as taxable.

So could it just be that you pay VAT on the sale of medicines?

– Yes absolutely. In theory, it could be so, says Pia Bergman.

Since the man was deemed to have a business, the Swedish Revenue Agency has calculated VAT and allowed a deduction for costs.

– That it is a white income means benefits for the individual. It can be pensionable. It is a way to obtain a bank loan. It is a way to benefit from the wellness system. That you have a blank page that you can show off, says Chief Prosecutor Stefan Lundberg.

The 25-year-old is not alone in running a business based on cash deposits and Swish sums.

▪ Aftonbladet has reviewed all reconsideration decisions by the Swedish Revenue Agency over the past four years in relation to one of the 676 individuals included in the secret mapping of police criminal networks.

Most of the nearly 50 decisions that have been made concern undeclared income.

A man who is linked by the police to a criminal network in southern Stockholm has received more than 110,000 SEK over a year, which he has not been able to post to his account for prisoners.

According to the man himself, he has made a living from gambling winnings and says that a large part of the money comes from loans, but without being able to prove it.

The year before the Swedish Revenue Agency decided to impose discretionary taxes on the man, the police stopped him in a car, when he was wearing a gold Rolex watch and had more than 300,000 Swedish crowns in cash.

According to Pia Bergman, it is common for large deposits to be accounted for by gambling winnings or loans.

– That you win much more in the game winnings is very unusual and you must be able to show that there are deposits in the different accounts. Then there are many who say they borrowed money from Mom and Dad. But when you look at the income of parents, you see that they hardly have a chance to support themselves, so it is not reasonable that you can lend half a million crowns.

Aftonbladet’s review of review decisions also shows how men designated as gang offenders lie about receiving income from companies. Like a 23-year-old who claimed to have received almost half a million crowns in salary from a company that was said to work with the care of young people with social problems.

But the company, which is now bankrupt, had never made any payments to the 23-year-old.

Being able to report a target income means, among other things, that you get a higher credit rating and can obtain different types of loans.

It also means that it is more difficult for the police to seize property from criminals.

– If you as a criminal really stay with drugs and the police arrest you and want to take your car, it is quite easy for the criminal to refer to the fact that he has a salary. Since he never set foot in that company, it doesn’t matter, says Pia Bergman.

For the Swedish Revenue Agency, it has become increasingly difficult to prove that the income comes from criminal or black activities. Following a ruling by the Court of Appeal, it was ruled that the burden of proof of the origin of the money would fall more on the Tax Agency than on the individual.

– This means that it has become more difficult for us, with more extensive investigations and greater requirements to show the origin of the money, says Bergman.

According to her, this has led to fewer people being checked now than before.

Proving that someone cheated with the tax can be an important tool for the authorities when it comes to complicating a criminal lifestyle.
If a person does not pay taxes when they are taxed, the Enforcement Officer is involved.

– In such cases, it is easier to stop these people if they drive in expensive cars or have exclusive gold jewelry. It just gets harder to live like a criminal.

▪ Aftonbladet’s review shows that 276 of the 676 designated gang offenders have a total debt of more than 38 million SEK. At the same time, 393 of them have zero rate, according to his latest statement.

The authorities will cooperate in the fight against organized crime, but Pia Bergman wants it to be easier with the cooperation of the authorities. Especially when it comes to people and companies that are in the “gray sector”.

– If you cannot be directly linked to organized crime that is defined as the common authority, we cannot give ourselves the same tip. It’s frustrating because we are expected, with good reason, to be effective in our work, but we are extremely limited in this and it makes it easier for those who want to participate in criminal activity, he says.

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Published: October 19, 2020 at 07.33