On 18 July 2025, the Italian Guardia di Finanza issued a statement announcing the preventive seizure of assets worth 47 million euros from “a logistics entrepreneur”, whose identity was not disclosed in line with standard practice. The note merely explained that this entrepreneur had emerged during an earlier investigation into a company operating in the freight and goods handling sector, which in April 2024 led to the preventive seizure of more than 64 million euros from that firm. Reports from the time identify the company in question as GS, part of the French Carrefour Group since 2000.
An article published in Corriere della Sera on the same day reported that the 47 million euro seizure had been carried out against an entrepreneur and a company, specifying that the company was Samag Holding Logistics, which supplies labour to GS and is controlled by businessman Giuseppe Esposito. The investigation concerns the issuing of false invoices for non-existent transactions and the improper use of fake tax credits. The scheme mirrors those uncovered in previous investigations by the Milan court, which have also involved multinationals and major players in the logistics and retail sectors, and which the Guardia di Finanza also identified during its investigation into GS.
In this case, prosecutor Paolo Storari explained that the supermarket chain allegedly used several cooperatives as “labour reservoirs”, essentially to act as a “screen” between GS—the final beneficiary of the work—and other “filter” companies. According to the prosecutor, these labour reservoirs systematically failed to pay VAT as well as social security and welfare contributions, with the total amount of false documentation reaching 362 million euros.
Meanwhile, Samag Holding Logistics is undergoing judicial liquidation, as ruled on 14 February 2025 by Judge Vincenza Agnese, who appointed Piero Canavelli as commissioner. Creditors are scheduled to meet at the Milan court on 8 October 2025. Previously, the court had admitted the company to a unified crisis composition procedure, which would have allowed it to present a restructuring plan in order to continue operations. However, the plan was deemed inadmissible, and the judge consequently ordered the liquidation.
As for GS’s parent company, national media have reported concerns raised by trade unions about a potential withdrawal of Carrefour from the Italian market. The French group is said to have tasked Rothschild with finding one or more buyers for its Italian network. Further clarification may come on 21 July. A potential exit by Carrefour from Italy would have significant repercussions on the logistics chain that supplies the group’s 1,185 retail outlets across the country.
