Casalesi in Tuscany, also involved recipients of citizen income. They withdrew cash criminal group in exchange for a few euros.
There were also recipients of citizen's income, among the people who allegedly contributed to the money laundering system that favored the Casalesi clan, discovered by the DDA of Florence in the context of the investigation that today led to the execution of 34 precautionary measures.
Starting from the flow of payments relating to the execution of the contracted works, the Guardia di Finanza discovered a system of false invoicing set up to cover large and continuous transfers from construction companies and arranged to the benefit of shell companies. The current accounts of the latter, explains the Gdf, were then emptied through an organised team of 'cash dispensers', people close to the poverty line and some of whom were beneficiaries of emergency citizen income, paid by the criminal group with commissions equal to 2-3% of the sums monetized, or approximately 50-100 euros per withdrawal. In detail, the system created by the group was based on various companies, believed to be attributable to the suspects and formally managed by front men, who carried out various construction works on the national territory, operating mostly as subcontractors.
The execution of the works and the subsequent invoicing by the clients gave rise to a first series of invoices for non-existent transactions in favor of shell companies that falsely certified collaboration in the works. The further phase included other invoices for non-existent transactions in favor of other 'shell companies', whose administrators carried out the cash withdrawal of the sums of money as payment for services that were never actually provided. The money was then laundered with real estate investments in the provinces of Pistoia, Lucca, Modena, Caserta, Isernia and Rome. According to what was explained by the Gfd, during the health emergency due to Covid some of the companies involved in the fraudulent system also requested and obtained non-repayable contributions provided for by the Relaunch decree.
Thirty-four precautionary measures carried out, including 4 in prison, 6 under house arrest, 9 residence requirements and 15 personal interdiction measures with a ban on carrying out all activities related to the exercise of businesses. The preventive seizure of assets and assets worth over 8 million euros from the suspects was also ordered. These are the numbers of the anti-Camorra operation in Tuscany, called 'Minerva', conducted by the Guardia di Finanza of the provincial command of Florence and the Scico (Central Investigation Service against Crime) as part of an investigation coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Florence, entrusted to the chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo and the deputy prosecutor Giulio Monferini, for alleged links with the Casalesi clan.
The measures were ordered by the preliminary investigations judge of the Florence court, Federico Zampaoli. Numerous crimes have been charged to the 34 suspects, including money laundering, self-laundering and reinvestment, fictitious registration of assets, issuing and using invoices for non-existent transactions with the aggravating circumstance of mafia-style criminal association for having favored the Casalesi Camorra clan. In addition to the criminal liability of the natural persons, 23 legal persons are charged with crime-related offences. The precautionary measures were carried out in the provinces of Florence, Lucca, Pistoia, Treviso, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Rome, Isernia and Caserta. The investigations arose from the development of information regarding numerous real estate and commercial investments made in 2016 in the province of Siena by two accountants from Campania, supported, among others, by a Florentine architect, originally from Caserta, believed by investigators to be close to organized crime circles that referred to the Casalesi Camorra clan.
The investigations revealed that individuals connected to the clan, through multiple companies operating in the real estate and commercial sectors, had reinvested significant amounts of financial resources of criminal origin in entrepreneurial activities also in the Tuscan territory. Starting from the flow of payments relating to the execution of the contracted works, the Guardia di Finanza revealed a complex system of false invoicing "to cover large and continuous transfers from construction companies and arranged for the benefit of shell companies" whose current accounts "were then emptied through an organized team of 'cash dispensers', people close to the poverty line and some of whom were beneficiaries of citizen or emergency income, paid by the association with commissions equal to 2 - 3% of the sums monetized".
The sums withdrawn, according to what was explained by the investigators, "then ended up with the promoters of the criminal association to be subsequently laundered through real estate investments in the provinces of Pistoia, Lucca, Modena, Rome, Isernia and Caserta". During the Covid-19 health emergency, some of the business activities involved in the alleged fraudulent system also requested and obtained non-repayable grants provided for by the Relaunch decree and financing guaranteed by the State under the Liquidity decree.
Article published on 20 January 2021 - 14:52
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