Judge proposes trial for 16 in €148 million Spanish fuel VAT fraud that links PSOE ally and Civil Guard captain
Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz has moved to prosecute 16 people for an alleged 148-million-euro VAT fraud on hydrocarbons between 2018 and 2021, a case that entangles a businessman linked to the Socialist party and a Civil Guard officer.
The fraud mechanism
Investigators allege a criminal organisation of three coordinated groups used the non-payment of VAT on hydrocarbons as a commercial margin to undercut market prices, boosting sales and revenue. The scheme centred on two fuel operators, Gaslow Abastecimientos S.L. and Nascor Energias S.L., which the groups controlled. Once the profits were generated, they were not enjoyed directly but were moved through one or more prior steps to conceal the funds.
Key defendants
Judge Pedraz charged 16 people, chief among them businessman Claudio Rivas, an associate of commission agent Víctor de Aldama. Rivas, who owned fuel firm Villafuel, already faces trial in a separate 70-million-euro hydrocarbon fraud case. The auto also targets Civil Guard captain Juan Sánchez Yepes, a member of the UCO’s money-laundering group from January 2008 to July 2022. Pedraz says Yepes accepted payments for tipping off the network about police actions, and his declared wealth rose from 251,587 euros in 2018 to 590,300 euros in 2022.
Financial scale
The defrauded sums escalated sharply. In 2018 the VAT loss was 6.2 million euros, rising to 30.9 million euros in 2019. By 2020, the combined operations of Gaslow and Nascor pushed the figure to 111.8 million euros. Prosecutors also identified nearly 60 million euros in money-laundering transactions.
- 2018
- 6.2 €M
- 2019
- 30.9 €M
- 2020
- 111.8 €M
Political and judicial entanglements
The case, known as Gaslow, overlaps with several high-profile Spanish scandals. Claudio Rivas allegedly bought a villa in Cádiz for former Socialist minister José Luis Ábalos and supplied the 90,000 euros that businesswoman Carmen Pano said she delivered to the PSOE’s Ferraz headquarters. Yepes was previously arrested in the Cloacas investigation for assisting Leire Díez, who collaborated with former PSOE organisation secretary Santos Cerdán in efforts to derail probes harmful to the government and the party. Pedraz’s decision comes after an earlier ruling in January by judge Antonio Piña, who already proposed sending Rivas to trial over a separate 70-million-euro fuel fraud through SKT Oil.
Next steps
In his 43-page ruling, the judge declared the investigation closed and moved the case to abbreviated proceedings. Besides the 16 individuals, Pedraz proposes naming 82 legal entities as civilly liable. With the instruction phase complete, the case will now move toward formal trial preparation at the Audiencia Nacional.
