The year 2025 begins with another operation directed by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office targeting illegal labour practices in logistics. The investigation is being led by prosecutor Paolo Storari, who has conducted similar inquiries in previous years. In this case, the accusations are directed at Aspiag Service, one of the five members of the Despar Italia consortium for large-scale retail distribution. On the morning of 8 January 2025, the Guardia di Finanza executed an urgent preventive seizure of eight million euros from the company, alleging tax fraud offences.
Investigators claim the company employed a mechanism they have previously identified in other cases: the use of labour supplied through intermediary companies, which in turn relied on "reservoir" companies often set up as cooperatives. This system allegedly involved fictitious subcontracting agreements, false invoicing, and tax evasion by the reservoir companies, which failed to pay VAT and workers’ social contributions.
These details have been disclosed by the prosecutor’s office. However, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, the investigation focuses on logistics contracts between the Austrian Spar group, which operates 250 stores under the Despar, Eurospar, Interspar, and Iperspar brands, along with 316 affiliated shops across Triveneto, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna, and two suppliers: Mag Servizi and Delivery One. The two companies are alleged to have employed, on average, 50% temporary workers between 2021 and 2023, with peaks of over 20,000 agency workers involved.
The newspaper also reports that “the two labour agencies systematically failed to pay social security contributions and tax obligations for warehouse workers, amassing debts with the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS) and the Revenue Agency amounting to nearly 25 million euros in just a few years.” This was allegedly facilitated by the fact that “the legislation governing subcontracting does not hold the principal contractor responsible for the non-payment of taxes and social security contributions for agency workers,” unlike other forms of enterprises, which fall under the so-called ‘joint liability’ rule.
Il Fatto Quotidiano further claims that Mag Servizi and Delivery One periodically informed Aspiag of contributions paid for direct employees only, while providing Excel lists of agency workers and their payslips for the rest. This arrangement was reportedly accepted by Aspiag, despite the fact that the contracts did not permit the use of temporary workers in the warehouses. Investigators accuse the company of failing to carry out any checks to enforce this prohibition, not even on a random basis.
