As part of an investigation coordinated by the Naples office of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), the Guardia di Finanza of the Provincial Command of Salerno has executed a preventive seizure aimed at confiscating an equivalent amount of over 160 thousand euros, relating to a contribution of European origin unduly received by an agricultural entrepreneur.
The investigations concerned the benefits granted to some farmers in the province of Salerno as part of the Campania Rural Development Plan, the so-called “Integrated Youth Project”.
In particular, the investigations carried out by the military of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Salerno have allowed to find various anomalies in the documentation presented by the company to obtain the contribution, including the indication of an extension of surfaces greater than the actual ones, in order to increase the economic size of the agricultural company, so as to reach and exceed the minimum requirements provided by the announcement for the useful inclusion in the ranking.
Subsequently, these discrepancies were confirmed by inspections carried out on the indicated properties, where the presence of a rough building in a state of construction was detected, declared as a warehouse but for all intents and purposes intended for the construction of a two-family villa, as well as the presence of surrounding land used for grazing and with olive and oak trees rather than for the cultivation of agricultural products, as indicated in the application for funding.
On the basis of the documents submitted, an advance payment of 163.031 euros had already been obtained, so the European Public Prosecutor's Office requested and obtained from the investigating judge a precautionary seizure of the same amount.
Article published on 27 January 2023 - 11:00
