EPPO

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Messina have executed a seizure order against a farm suspected of agricultural funding fraud, with an estimated damage of €160 000.

The suspect under investigation is an agricultural company located in the municipality of Tortorici (province of Messina). According to the evidence, the company declared that it was in possession of agricultural land parcels, allegedly resorting to false lease contracts – when the land in fact belonged to third parties, who were unaware of the fraud. In some cases, the plots were public property.

At the request of the EPPO, the judge for preliminary investigations in Messina ordered the preventive seizure of assets for the sums unduly received.

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and  the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) have launched the ‘EPPO Academy’, a tailor-made training programme.

The European Chief Prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kövesi and the General Commander of the Guardia di Finanza, Andrea De Gennaro, signed a working arrangement to that effect yesterday. A ceremony, attended by the entire College of the EPPO, took place at the premises of the Economic-Financial Police School of the Guardia di Finanza, in Lido di Ostia, Rome.

In order to make a lasting difference to the fight against serious organised crime, the EPPO needs the support of dedicated and specialised investigators in all the participating Member States. Currently, in the European Union, there is an overall lack of experience in investigations into financial and economic crimes in general, and crimes affecting the EU budget in particular. The EPPO Academy’s objective is to give any law enforcement officer working on EPPO cases the opportunity to learn from the best in any field relevant to the EPPO’s competence.

Concretely, in 2024, it will propose a first set of training courses under the auspices of the Guardia di Finanza, at its world-renowned Economic-Financial Police School. Selected law enforcement officers from the 22 participating Member States will have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how their work feeds into a transnational investigation led by the EPPO, and of different legal instruments of particular relevance to EPPO operations. They will gain deeper insights into existing means for the acquisition and analysis of evidence, and for the detection of crimes affecting the financial interests of the EU.

The EPPO will continue to enrich the offer of training courses under the EPPO Academy, and is exploring further needs and possibilities with relevant partners in the EU and beyond.

The EPPO is the independent public prosecutor office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) seized €80 000, in an investigation into agricultural funding fraud.

Under investigation are five individuals working for an agricultural company located in the province of Messina (Sicily). According to the evidence, the suspects forged statements to falsely declare ownership and possession of numerous land parcels in the province of Messina, in order to obtain European Union agricultural funds.

Between 2013 and 2022, the suspects are believed to have unduly obtained €80 000 from the Italian agricultural payments agency AGEA (Agenzia per le erogazioni in agricoltura). Two of the suspects (both representatives of the agricultural company under investigation) requested further contributions of €50 000, this time not received.

At the request of the EPPO, the judge for preliminary investigations in Patti ordered the preventive seizure of assets for the sums unduly received, a precautionary measure that was executed yesterday, 14 September, by the Guardia di Finanza (Tenenza di Patti della Guardia di Finanza).

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.

On 22 August 2023, at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Rome, the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) seized €1 million, in an investigation into an NGO suspected of embezzling EU tourism funding.

Between September 2017 and November 2018, the NGO, which is active in the field of market research and opinion polls, had successfully applied for €1 million in EU funding through the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. This funding was intended for training and information activities to develop environmentally sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean. It is alleged, however, that the head of the NGO transferred parts of the received funding to his personal bank account, and used other parts of the funding for purchases that were not in line with the intended purposes.

The investigation was primarily carried out by the Guardia di Finanza’s Public Expenditure Protection Group (Gruppo Tutela Spesa Pubblica, Nucleo di Polizia Economico-Finanziaria di Roma).

A freezing order of €141 000 has been executed today, in an investigation into fraud involving Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds, coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Venice (Italy).

The freezing order was issued on 11 July 2023 by the judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Padua against seven individuals, for sums allegedly unduly received from 2017 to 2022. This judicial measure was executed by the EPPO Section of the Carabinieri of Venice and the Carabinieri Forestry Group of Brescia.

The suspects are believed to have used false documentation certifying the ownership of land that they did not own – including state-owned land –, in order to obtain undue payments of CAP funds.

The judge of the Court of Padua also ordered the seizure of the titles of CAP rights held by two of the suspects, both farmers, based in Padua and Desenzano del Garda.

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.