A considerable part of the Karlsruhe taxi industry is suspected to have registered their drivers incorrectly and thus evaded paying taxes. With this statement, the Karlsruhe prosecutor justified a large-scale inspection which focused on around 60 vehicles of 15 taxi companies and their 100 drivers. Legitimised by 150 judicial search warrants, nearly 600 officials of the police, the public prosecution and the customs reviewed and secured documents in the business and private premises of the concerned companies and their drivers.
The Karlsruhe taxi headquarters were visited as well and had to disclose the awarding of contracts to the vehicles of the suspected businesses. Simultaneously, all taxis in use had to come to a central location. There, the taximeter and the vehicle data were checked out. The secured documents are now evaluated.
Should the initial suspicions be confirmed, the entrepreneurs are then threatened with high arrears and possibly even prison sentences. The concerned employed taxi drivers are threatened with criminal proceedings for abetting.
