Finance police on Friday
arrested two Roman tax inspectors for allegedly seeking bribes.
The inspectors were jailed, while a third man was placed
under house arrest.
Tax inspectors Giuseppe Costantini and Alberto Mario Gloria
are accused of asking 50,000 euros to "fix" a tax audit to
prevent dispute over a business income declaration. The third
man, Costantini's cousin Antonio Beltri, allegedly acted as an
intermediary.
A restaurant owner in Rome told police that the two tax
inspectors came to conduct a tax audit. After a set of
preliminary checks, the inspectors allegedly told the restaurant
owner that they were finding unreported revenue of roughly one
million euros.
Gloria then said the discrepancy could be reduced or
eliminated with a payment of 25,000 euros, which was later
raised to 50,000 euros, according to the arrest order.
"Later investigations confirmed...that the episode was only
the 'tip of the iceberg' of unfair conduct on the part of
officers of the homeland revenue agency," wrote a judge on the
arrest order.
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