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The operation came to public attention on 1 June 2022, uncovered by SUR. The National Police and the Guardia Civil arrested the founder of the subtropical fruit company Frutas Montosa, based in Valle-Niza, in Velez-Malaga, on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol as the supposed mastermind of an alleged money laundering plot.
José Luis Montosa was investigated for the alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation and tax fraud, but was released after paying a 200,000-euros bail.
The then 67-year-old businessman from Vélez is owner and sole administrator of the company founded in 1982, which is a leader in the subtropical fruit market at European level. He is also a director of the Vélez-Málaga branch of the Cajamar bank.
The final figures of the joint operation carried out by the National Police and the Guardia Civil, known as Aspa-Schet, were much higher: 82 people were arrested and investigated for alleged tax fraud of four million euros in IVA (Spain's sales tax) and corporate tax.
According to a joint press release issued by the two forces at the time, the operation has enabled "the dismantling of a criminal network dedicated to tax fraud, false documentation and money laundering in the purchase and sale of subtropical fruit on the eastern side of Malaga".
More than two years later, the case is still being heard in a court in Vélez-Málaga, where there are already more than 550 people under investigation, according to sources from the Andalusian high court of justice (TSJA). "They are being summoned to take statements, but the matter is very complex," sources have said. The same sources added that "there have been no changes in the situation of those under investigation", that is, none of them is in prison and the owner of the company is the only person involved who has had to pay bail to be released.
According to the legal sources consulted, the same alleged crimes continue to be investigated, i.e. membership of a criminal group, document forgery, tax fraud and money laundering. The investigation, which took place in two phases, ended in mid-2022 with the arrest of 82 people for their alleged involvement in the events, including the alleged mastermind of the scheme, according to the investigations.
It is estimated that the amount defrauded from public finances exceeds four million euros for tax offences in corporate tax and IVA. To this amount must be added those relating to important voluntary regularisations carried out, at the time, by the main investigated parties "as a result of a first round with more than 50 arrests and other amounts that are estimated to be in the millions, still to be determined, in the personal income tax of more than 300 front men".
In the operation, which took place in the towns of Alhaurín de la Torre, Benalmádena, Benamocarra, Málaga city, Rincón de la Victoria, and Veléz-Málaga, 28 searches were carried out, both in private and company homes. seizing more than 1.7 million euros in cash, eight high-end vehicles and a large amount of documentation that would prove the alleged fraud against the public treasury. In addition, the financial products of the investigated parties and the companies controlled by the network were blocked, as well as dozens of vehicles and hundreds of properties.
The plot, made up of a multitude of individuals and legal entities, was allegedly systematically defrauding the public finances with a network of false invoicing based on alleged expenses incurred by Frutas Montosa. According to the investigation, the modus operandi consisted, fundamentally, of generating fictitious purchases for which undue IVA payments were made, with the consequent fraud against the public finances in different taxes and fiscal years.
In order to do this, the criminal plot relied on a large number of people from a wide variety of occupations including businesses in the sector, a bank manager, employees of agencies, fruit brokers and intermediaries, local farmers and more than 300 front men.
The investigation began National Police and Guardia Civil officers detected that intermediaries in the fruit trade in Axarquia were invoicing the sale of large quantities of subtropical fruit of unknown origin to companies in the sector, using for this purpose the interposition of people of limited means with no links to the agricultural world, as fake farmers to whom the plot was invoicing fruit that had really been produced and delivered to the fruit wholesaler by local producers who did not wish to declare it.
These fake farmers, who provided their documentation in exchange for a small financial benefit, were registered as agricultural workers by the criminal organisation, which allegedly falsified the documents for the purchase and sale of the subtropical fruit in order to make the activity appear legal and introduce the products on the market.
The network also included numerous agricultural producers, legally registered in the established regime, who did not wish to invoice their entire production so as not to legally declare the real harvest and thus obtain various tax benefits.
As a result, between February and March 2021, the first operational phase was carried out, leading to the arrest of 55 people and the practice of eight house searches, which resulted in the seizure of 770,585 euros in cash, the blocking of bank accounts with a balance of 360,403.69 euros, the seizure of a large number of movable and immovable assets, as well as the intervention of a significant volume of physical and digital documentation.
Subsequently, in a second phase, action was taken against the management of the criminal organisation and the network of transporters issuing false invoices. From that moment on, agents attached to the UDEF economic and fiscal crime unit in Malaga began an analysis of documents that allowed them to climb up the ladder, finding evidence of the involvement of both the owner of the leading company in the subtropical fruit market and of several workers.
A specialist in judicial assistance from AEAT joined the case which, together with the work of the police investigators, led to the uncovering of a millionaire fraud against the public finances through an extensive network of false invoicing and the use of intermediaries or front men, both in the fruit market and in other support services for the same.
In this second phase, twenty searches were carried out at the homes of individuals and legal entities, including one at the headquarters of the leading company in the sale of subtropical fruit, as well as the arrest of 27 people, the seizure of 991,855 euros in cash and five high-end cars, and the blocking of financial products belonging to those under investigation and the companies controlled by the network.
Among those under investigation are an employee of a Cajamar bank branch where the fraudulent cheques were paid, cheques issued in favour of the fake farmers and which were cashed by the organisation in a bank in Vélez-Málaga, and also a senior member of the main suspect's company, who was in charge of the accounting and management of the organisation's cash 'B' account.
When the operation hit the media in June 2022, Frutas Montosa announced that it had opened an internal investigation and denied that the operation affected its business solvency. "We are the main interested parties in clearing up the case as soon as possible," said the subtropical fruit company at the time. More than two years later, the company continues to operate normally in the national and international markets.
It should be noted that among the 550 people under investigation is the mayor of Iznate, Gregorio Campos (PSOE), in his capacity as a farmer, as SUR published in September 2023. The court in Vélez-Málaga is investigating alleged offences of membership of a criminal group, false documentation, tax fraud and money laundering within the subtropical fruit company Frutas Montosa.
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