That dusty notebook had been forgotten and perhaps underestimated. But to get the three brothers into trouble Elkann, John, Ginevra and Lapoin addition to the family’s historic accountant Gianluca Ferrero and Urs Robert von Gruenigen, the Swiss notary who oversaw the testamentary succession of one of the richest families in Italy, it could actually be the diary of notes of Marella Caracciolo’s secretary.
Agnelli legacy, after John Elkann his brother Lapo and sister Ginevra are also under investigation
The Elkann’s grandmother, whose inheritance is at the center of the family dispute which has resulted in an investigation into tax evasion and now also fraud against the state. A notebook where appointments and, above all, movements of the widow of the lawyer Gianni Agnelli between Italy and Switzerland were schematically noted. This is a document that the Prosecutor’s Office considers fundamental, because, apparently, it could demonstrate that the old woman spent much more time in our country rather than abroad. But the account of the movements is not a detail, because the accusation of the investigators against the suspects, who after two days became five, is precisely that of having built “a fictitious foreign residence” in Switzerland for Caracciolo. With two purposes: «On the one hand, from a fiscal point of view, to avoid the subjection to taxation in Italy of large assets and income deriving from such assets; on the other hand, from a hereditary point of view, to remove the succession” of the lawyer’s widow “from the Italian system”. Precise words, written in the new seizure decree from the investigation documents for “fraudulent tax returns”. And among the papers there is also a new crime hypothesis: “aggravated fraud against the State and a public body”, i.e. the Revenue Agency.
THE MOVEMENTS
As regards the secretary’s diary, the investigators note that the fundamental part is a four-page document “summarizing in schematic form the days of Marella Caracciolo’s actual presence in Italy”. It emerges that in 2015 Agnelli’s wife would have been “in Switzerland for less than two months”, while she would have remained in Italy for 298 days. In 2018 she would have remained in our country for 227 days, while only 138 of her would have spent abroad. And in the eyes of the financiers the title at the top of the last sheet also seemed very indicative: “A life of travel”. For those investigating, “this document, in addition to confirming the validity of the allegations made, postulates their extension at least to the years 2015, 2016, 2017, not yet covered by the statute of limitations”. There is also another document considered important that was found during a search: in a file in the basement of the accountant Ferrero a manuscript turned up, a sort of manual, with detailed instructions on how to act in the event of Caracciolo’s death. . Instructions, perhaps, to carry on the scam.
I ME
Among the assets in question, which ended up at the center of the investigation, there would be 734 million euros, “deriving from the inheritance of Marella Caracciolo”, and the alleged fraud concerns the failure to pay the inheritance tax.
The amount that the Elkanns should have paid to the treasury, therefore, varies between 42 and 63 million euros. But there is more: in the documents we read that «it appears conceivable the integration of the taxable base removed from taxation, already made up of the life annuity, with the further significant sum of 30 million euros of income deriving from the offshore assets of Marella Caracciolo and generated in each of the disputed years: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, part of 2019″, a period in which investigators believe Marella lived permanently at Villa Frescot, on the Turin hills. Therefore Irpef would have had to be paid on the earnings in Italy.
THE REVIEW
A few days ago the Review Court, accepting the defence’s appeal, ordered the release of the material taken over by the Finance Department during the searches on 8 February. The prosecutors, however, managed to retain almost everything, including mobile phones, servers and other devices, signing a decree that will almost certainly be challenged by lawyers.
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2024-03-08 23:05:17
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