THE DIA SEIZES THREE COMPANIES FROM A WELL-KNOWN ACCOUNTANT CONVICTED FOR STATE FRAUD, ALREADY SUBJECT TO A PREVENTION MEASURE

The DIA is enforcing an order issued by the Court of Messina – Section Prevention Measures, which ordered the seizure of three companies belonging to a well-known accountant from the Pelorus area, the value of which was estimated at approximately EUR 200,000.

The investigation activities, coordinated by the local District Anti-Mafia Directorate, stem from a series of in-depth investigations carried out by the DIA following the seizure of assets which, at the beginning of 2023, had affected the considerable assets of the professional (estimated at approximately 12 million euros). Over time different judicial authorities in Italy launched against the subject various preventive and asset-related measures, following fraudulent conducts carried out in order to illegally obtain public funds.

In particular, as a result of further investigations, it was possible to reconstruct how the professional, through a company formally registered in the name of complacent third parties, had managed to gain a business sector, that of elderly care, which was no longer the responsibility of another cooperative that had been affected by the previous seizure order.

The existence of ‘business continuity’ emerged from objective circumstances such as the fact that the premises used by the two economic entities were the same and that some employees of the cooperative already affected by the 2023 order had been hired by the one subject to today’s seizure.

In the course of the investigations, two companies operating in the construction and tax consultancy sector were also identified, which were considered to be linked to the professional as their share capital was also held by family members of the latter. These companies, like the first, were also seized.

Today’s operation is the result of the checks that the DIA – with the coordination of the DDA – also carries out in the phases following the execution of seizure orders as part of actions to combat the reuse of illegal proceeds.

Messina, 12 February 2024