Italy: One mafia replaces another, they allegedly stole 600 million euros, Covid money…

By:Souleymane Loum 

Italy is not healed of its demons. The authorities investigated and exposed, in collaboration with other European countries, an alleged criminal organization which allegedly managed to embezzle no less than 600 million euros. These funds were devoted to programs subsidized by the European Union (EU). The standard bearers of the French extreme right – Jean-Marine Le Pen, his daughter Marine and 26 other people – are accused of having stolen European funds (their trial is scheduled for next September), it is a trifle at the look at the amounts stolen in Italy.

More than 150 elements of the Italian financial police hunted this gang throughout the country; the inquiry took them as far as Austria, Romania and Slovakia, reports RFI. According to judicial sources in Rome, 24 people, including 17 in Italy, who are implicated in this vast fraud, are subject to an arrest warrant.

They had set up an ingenious system to suck money out of the EU recovery fund; remarking that this money was supposed to assist Italians get through the Coronavirus health crisis. They furthermore allegedly got their hands on subsidies allocated to the energy renovation of housing in Italy. Instead the money financed luxury villas and cars, high-value jewelry and watches, and cryptocurrencies.

Remember that the EU set a Recovery Plan of more than 800 billion euros in 2020 to support the 27 Member States in the face of the crisis caused by the pandemic, this fund is funded by a common loan. European leaders now know: that the system has big flaws, holes into which scoundrels shamelessly rush…

From now on Italy, which is the biggest beneficiary of this plan (with aid of 194.4 billion euros, 71.8 billion in grants and 122.6 billion in loans), will be watched like milk on the stove. Note that Rome has so far obtained some 102 billion euros to confront the pandemic and more than 90 billion additional euros are expected by 2026. We all know that all this money will not go where it should go.