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Given the extraordinary public interest in its investigation code-named ‘Resilient Crime’, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) wishes to clarify some technical elements that have been subject to misinterpretation:
Last week, 4 April 2024, the EPPO informed about arrests and freezing order related to investigation ‘Resilient Crime’ targeting a criminal organisation alleged to have set up a sophisticated fraudulent scheme with damage to both the EU and Italian budgets.
According to this EPPO investigation, the suspects involved in this scheme managed to obtain €600 million worth of tax credits from the Italian authorities, by providing false information and forged documents and invoices. Tax credits, that could potentially also be funded by the RRF, are a tax incentive that allows the beneficiary to deduct the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state in their future tax declarations.
It is understood, based on the evidence gathered so far in our investigation, that the suspects also directly applied for funding from the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) – part of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for Italy and the main pillar of the NextGenerationEU recovery plan.
The ‘Resilient Crime’ investigation does not concern €600 million worth of RRF funds, but a highly complex fraudulent scheme, also targeting RRF funds, with estimated total potential damages of more than €600 million to both the Italian and EU budgets.
Further information will follow in due course, once the investigation has reached a phase in which more details can be released.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.