Spain’s Tax Agency has told the National Court that companies used by an alleged fuel-sector VAT fraud network channelled part of the unpaid tax through purported advisory contracts. The agency’s report says the payments accounted for 11% of the VAT allegedly evaded and were made through intermediary companies, primarily as sales commissions.
The report estimates that the alleged fraud, attributed to a network led by businessman Víctor de Aldama and his partner Claudio Rivas, amounted to €181 million between 2022 and 2024. On that basis, the 11% share would represent around €20 million. The investigation concerns the use of fuel operator Villafuel.
According to the report, the advisory agreements were made mainly with companies based in Portugal. Some of those firms later brought funds back into Spain through investments. The stated purpose, the report says, was to move income elsewhere and make the allegedly misappropriated funds harder to trace. It also identifies transfers to China and says such movements could indicate an effort to strip assets from companies involved in the network and hinder recovery of the money.
The report describes a broader pattern across seven intermediary companies. It says 21% of the allegedly unpaid VAT was channelled in two ways: 11% through the purported advisory arrangements and a further 10% to reduce prices offered to end customers. Those lower prices, it says, gave the companies a competitive advantage in the fuel market.
The Tax Agency also says that some profits were transferred to bank accounts, including accounts abroad, and that part of the money later returned to Spain through property and business investments, as well as private spending. It identifies Aldama and Rivas as beneficiaries and says the conduct could constitute asset concealment and money laundering.
The report further describes Villafuel and the seven intermediary companies as having nominal administrators who allegedly acted as figureheads, concealing those who controlled and managed the businesses. It says the companies had little business infrastructure, short operating histories and limited capital, and shared commercial networks and customers. The agency says the structure relied on retaining the VAT to cut prices and push compliant competitors out of the market.
A separate report by the Civil Guard’s Central Operative Unit, made public in late September, put transfers from Spanish bank accounts to accounts belonging to Portuguese companies at €78.3 million. The transfers were made by Villafuel, which is at the centre of the fuel-sector investigation.
Sources: elDiario.es.