Flemish pharmacists suspected of tax fraud
Police in Sint-Niklaas, East Flanders, have uncovered a wide-spread system of fraud used by pharmacists across Flanders, worth an estimated €2 million in VAT evasion.
The case traces back to a software company in Sint-Niklaas, which supplied pharmacists with a computer system that allowed them to hide some of their income and so avoid tax, as well as pocketing the VAT customers pay on all purchases. Last week police carried out search warrants at the homes of six people in Sint-Niklaas and Antwerp, all of whom were released after questioning.
The system is estimated to have been used by hundreds of pharmacists. According to the prosecutor’s office in Dendermonde, which is handling the case, the investigation was begun following a tip-off from the tax authorities.
Prosecutor Erwin Dernicourt said the investigation promised to be “a gigantic job” given the number of pharmacists on the software company’s client list – as many as 1,400.
The General Pharmaceutical Union complained that announcements regarding the case had “brought the whole sector into disrepute,” while stressing that the case had nothing to do with the proper treatment of customers by pharmacists. “The customer in each case paid the correct price and in that respect is in no way a victim,” said spokesperson Jan Depoorter.
The software company, meanwhile, has denied being at the centre of the fraud and put the blame on “a number of individual pharmacists who made improper use of our software”.
