Italy launches 2.0-billion-euro tax evasion probe

(MILAN) - Italy's tax agency and financial police said on Friday they were investigating more than 2,000 Italians for allegedly evading more than 2.0 billion euros in tax by hiding the money in havens abroad.

The operation is geared toward "retrieving large sums of money discovered in 'tax havens' and taken away from Italians' pockets," said the tax agency in a statement.

"The people being investigated by the revenue office are strongly suspected of having evaded and transferred very large sums abroad. The consequences will be serious for those who are not able to demonstrate the regularity of the operations," the statement said.

The probe involves "people who brought abroad sums larger than 500,000 euros through financial intermediaries" between 2007 and 2008, Stefano Screpanti, head of the financial police's fiscal revenue office told the ANSA news agency.

Some of the money was placed in the "so-called tax havens that are on Italy's 'black list' such as Switzerland, Singapore, Panama, and others," said Screpanti.

Most of the alleged tax evaders live in Italy's rich northern regions and near Rome. The only region not involved in the probe is the "virtuous" tiny northern region Valle D'Aosta, the statement said.

Italy has intensified its fight against tax evasion over the last few years in parallel with a tax amnesty that allows Italians to legally bring back goods and capital without explanation on how they were earned, but paying fine of five percent of the total value.

The amnesty, originally set to last three months until mid-December, was extended until the end of April, but with a higher, 7.0 percent fine.

In December the total value of goods and capital brought back to Italy amounted to 95 billion euros (130 billion dollars), which added 5.0 billion euros to the Italian state coffers, much needed in light of Italy's large public debt.

Italy's public debt has been among the highest in the world for years, ballooning 5.8 percent in 2009 to 1.76 trillion euros, about 115 percent of gross national product in 2009.