Financial police in the Fraud Prevention Office uncover 546 offences in the construction sector
Coordinated Europe-wide priority check
In March, the Financial Police in the Fraud Prevention Office was part of a large-scale, Europe-wide coordinated control programme in the construction sector. The inspection campaign was organised by the European Labour Authority (ELA) and took place simultaneously in numerous European countries.
In Austria, 586 companies and around 2,000 employees were inspected at 285 locations. In the course of these checks, 546 offences were detected.
The offences detected ranged from illegal employment of foreigners (35 reports) to illegal employment (161 reports) and missing working time records (50 cases). Offences against wage and social dumping regulations were also found particularly frequently (268 cases). In addition, 17 offences were reported under the Industrial Code.
In addition to labour and social law violations, significant outstanding tax debts were also reported: The fraud fighters executed a total of 600,000 euros. In addition, outstanding financial penalties totalling over 200,000 euros had to be enforced in seven cases, which were collected directly by the financial police by means of debt seizure.
The inspections also brought to light numerous individual cases with particularly serious circumstances:
Three Ukrainian undeclared workers were found on a building site in Lower Austria. The Ukrainian tenant, who acted as the client, had already accumulated tax debts totalling around 157,000 euros. The financial police then immediately seized his armoured Mercedes S600.
Also in Lower Austria, eleven illegally employed construction workers were found on a building site.
In Upper Austria, two Kosovan construction workers without residence and work permits had to be handed over to the immigration police. In addition, three cleaners were identified as bogus self-employed workers - their work is now attributed to the client as non-self-employment.
In Salzburg, one person identified himself with a forged Romanian driving licence. The document was seized.
Further investigations are ongoing in all cases. In particular, the subcontractor structures within the respective order chains are currently being analysed in order to uncover possible bogus companies and fraudulent constructions in the supply and service relationships.
Some of the checks also took place within the framework of international co-operation. Colleagues from Italy, Slovenia and the Czech Republic accompanied the financial police on individual missions in Carinthia and Lower Austria in order to strengthen the European exchange of experience and cooperation in the fight against social fraud.
"The results of this Europe-wide focus operation show very clearly how important coordinated international controls are in the construction sector. Close cooperation between European authorities is particularly important in a cross-border sector such as the construction industry. The deployment of our financial police in the Anti-Fraud Office - together with international partners - makes a significant contribution to the protection of fair working conditions and the safeguarding of functioning competition," says Christian Ackerler, Director of the Anti-Fraud Office.
The Head of the Financial Police Division, Wilfried Lehner, was also surprised by the results: "We were expecting a high hit rate. However, the fact that we found so many violations at different levels of construction services unfortunately shows more than clearly that distortions of competition by illegal market participants continue to be a massive problem and that labour exploitation continues to take place."
"The Anti-Fraud Office and the Financial Police ensure that legal requirements are complied with. Combating fraud is in the interests of honest companies and employees. It is a question of justice. That is why we have zero tolerance for tax and duty fraud," says Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer.