A diversion of public funds from the then Institute for the Coastal Marine Environment of Naples (now the Institute of Marine Sciences) of the National Research Council, through false consultancy services, has been contested by the regional prosecutor's office of the Court of Auditors of the Campania. Seven people were the recipients of an invitation to deduct: a damage to the treasury of 2.226.370,50 euros is contested. Not only that: they were the recipients of a precautionary seizure of movable and immovable assets and credits for an amount equivalent to the damage to the treasury ascertained.
In particular, thanks also to an internal investigation by the National Research Council (CNR), which led to a criminal proceeding currently pending, 46 consultancy contracts were reconstructed. These contracts were signed between 2010 and 2014 with 13 companies in Rome, Milan, and Monza. These contracts were linked to the same center of interest and, in many cases, operated in sectors incompatible with the consultancy services allegedly provided.
The latter, in fact, where not completely non-existent, have often been found to be identical to each other and devoid of concrete content (e.g.
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In numerous cases, formally different consulting contracts, but with the same purpose, were awarded simultaneously, or within a short timeframe, to different firms, without receiving any actual consideration. Sometimes, the same consultancy contract was repeatedly awarded to companies always attributable to the same center of interest. The fees paid to the firms involved were always artificially split so as to be able to proceed, at their discretion, with direct awarding. To make this procedure credible, the individuals involved—as stated in a press release—"prepared different estimates for the companies that were awarded the consultancy contracts in turn, thus simulating a competitive tender process that resulted in the selection of the most economically advantageous offer, even though the contractor/concessionaire had already been identified in advance."
The estimates submitted "were practically identical, with prices differing by just a few dozen euros, bearing consecutive protocol numbers, all affixed on the same date, a clear sign of their simultaneous preparation under a single direction; and in a clearly defined, substantial context of artful and oriented reconstruction of the overall expenditure formation process."
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