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(Luxembourg, 23 February 2024) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), over €760 000 in assets have been seized, in an investigation into fraud involving EU agricultural funding aimed at building and modernising olive oil mills.
It is alleged that, between 2018 and 2023, three suspects set up a fraudulent scheme to receive €3.5 million in non-reimbursable funding from EU and national sources, in the context of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), using their respective companies.
According to the evidence, one of the suspects, who is also the manager of the olive oil company applying for the funding, used false invoices supplied by a second company to artificially inflate the reported costs of the construction and modernisation of two olive oil mills. In so doing, the suspects are thought to have made an illicit financial gain of approximately €248 000. The company used the same false invoices with the inflated prices in their tax declaration, allowing it to evade VAT payments amounting to around €252 000. The second company is understood to have been controlled by the same family that owned the olive oil company.
The investigation also revealed evidence of self-money laundering – a form of money laundering in which the same person perpetrates both the primary offence and the money laundering offence. It is believed that a portion of the allegedly falsified expenses, totalling €260 000, was transferred to a third company, also owned and operated by the suspects of the fraudulent scheme. This illicitly obtained money was then used to settle the debts of the perpetrators of the fraud.
In order to recover the damage to the EU budget, the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Sciacca seized about €200 000 in cash and real estate of the suspects under investigation, including the oil mill, following a freezing order issued by the judge for preliminary investigations at the Court of Sciacca.
All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.
The 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.