THE DIA: CONFISCATION OF ASSETS WORTH 7 MILLION EUROS FROM A LOAN SHARK ENTREPRENEUR FROM MESSINA

On January 11, the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia carried out in the province of Messina the confiscation of assets ordered by the Court of Appeal in Messina.

The confiscation refers to huge assets worth approx. 7 million euros, linked to an entrepreneur from the Nebrodi area, operating in the slaughtering sector and marketing of leather. Based on investigative results conducted by the DIA and coordinated by the D.D.A. in Messina, the subject was deemed socially dangerous after judicial events for fraud to obtain public funds, illegal financial practices and loan-sharking, for the latter he was sentenced irrevocably in 2009.

Furthermore, a cooperating witness revealed that the subject was an economic agent close to the mafia from the “Nebrodi and Tortorici area”.

DIA’s investigations ascertained that the subject in the period under examination, though not having an officially declared income sufficient to justify significant economic resources, succeeded in increasing his personal and corporate wealth by fictitiously registering assets in the name of relatives.

The ablative measure carried out today is a second degree provision which follows the seizure and confiscation orders issued already in 2020 against the same subject by the Court in Messina  – Section Preventive Measures.

Totally, the ablative measure refers to: a 50% share of companies as well as a 20% share of a Consortium Fund of a Consortium; 17 real estates (buildings and plots of land); 20 personal and corporate vehicles and a number of financial interests.

Messina, 12 January 2022