Rome – The Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police) conducted searches at the Rome headquarters of the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali) as part of an investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office into alleged corruption and embezzlement, committed jointly and continuously until December 2025. All members of the Authority's Board of Directors, including its president, Pasquale Stanzione, are under investigation.
According to the 16-page search warrant served by the Guardia di Finanza (Fiamme Gialle) military, the public officials, "as members of the Board and having access to public funds by virtue of their office," allegedly misappropriated funds by requesting reimbursement for expenses unrelated to their mandate, for a total amount still being quantified.
The investigation is being coordinated by Deputy Prosecutor Giuseppe De Falco, with responsibility for crimes against public administration.
The charges also include the improper use of the company car, which by law is designated for essential institutional purposes. Specifically, one of the members of the Board, Agostino Ghiglia, allegedly used the chauffeured car to travel to the headquarters of a political party for purposes unrelated to his mandate.
The investigations by the judicial police also revealed the frequent use of company cars by all members of the Panel, including for personal travel, including home-work travel.
The most serious allegation, however, concerns alleged corruption in the performance of duties. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the Authority's top management failed to impose substantial sanctions—limiting itself to merely formal findings—against ITA Airways, despite irregularities in the monitoring of communications and the management of data processing documentation.
In exchange, they allegedly received executive-class "Volare" passes, worth approximately €6 each. The decree also highlights a potential conflict of interest related to the role of the company's data protection officer, who belongs to a law firm affiliated with a member of the Panel.
Investigators are also focusing on the Authority's entertainment and management expenses: from just over €20 in 2021, costs are said to have increased significantly starting in 2022, reaching approximately €400 annually in 2024, following the increase in the spending cap authorized by the Board in 2020.
The searches are aimed at obtaining administrative and accounting documents, as well as computer devices and telephones, to verify the validity of the accusations. The investigation is in the preliminary investigation phase, and as expected, all suspects are presumed innocent.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
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