Key facts
- Prosecutors seek trial for Campari chairman Luca Garavoglia over alleged €1.29 billion tax evasion.
- The case involves a 2018 merger between Alicros and Lagfin, which transferred Campari's structure to Luxembourg.
- Prosecutors allege the merger was designed to avoid an exit tax on capital gains when the company moved its registered office abroad.
- Lagfin, the family holding company controlling Campari, paid €405 million in December to settle a separate tax dispute.
- Garavoglia has been chairman of Campari since 1994 and is the largest shareholder through Lagfin.
Italian prosecutors have requested that Luca Garavoglia, chairman of the drinks group Campari, stand trial over allegations of evading €1.29 billion in taxes. The request also includes Giovanni Berto, Lagfin's legal representative. Lagfin, the Luxembourg-based family holding company that controls Campari, had previously settled its own tax dispute with Italy's Revenue Agency in December, agreeing to pay €405 million in instalments.
Prosecutors in Monza believe the offense of fraudulent tax declaration applies to the case, which centers on €1.29 billion in alleged tax evasion that led to the confiscation of shares worth that amount from Lagfin last October. The case originates from a 2018 merger between Alicros, the Italian company that controlled Campari, and Luxembourg-based Lagfin. This merger combined the entities into a single company holding a 51% stake in Campari, then valued at over €4 billion, and transferred the structure to Luxembourg.
According to prosecutors and the Guardia di Finanza finance police, the operation was allegedly designed to avoid Italy's exit tax on capital gains when the company moved its registered office abroad. Under Italian law, tax proceedings and criminal investigations are treated as separate matters. Garavoglia, 57, has chaired Campari since 1994 and is the largest shareholder through Lagfin. A judge will now schedule a preliminary hearing to determine whether the case proceeds to trial or is dismissed.