This morning, soldiers from the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Catanzaro, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Vibo Valentia, gave
execution of the provision with which the investigating judge at the Court of Vibo Valentia ordered the preventive seizure of over 9 million euros from a private clinic
of Vibo Valentia (Villa dei Geraniums) affiliated with the Regional Health Service and, subordinately, of the two administrators who have succeeded one another over the years, investigated for fraud against the local
Provincial Health Company.
The investigations, conducted by specialists from the Catanzaro economic-financial police unit, have made it possible to hypothesize that the clinic, although authorized and accredited
for the execution in agreement with the regional health system of services in various disciplines, from 2012 to 2022, following the stipulation with the ASP of Vibo Valentia of specific
contracts, has unduly performed surgical healthcare services of an outpatient nature, including in the ophthalmology field, in the absence, for this branch, of both the authorization
health for the exercise and accreditation with the public body.
Consequently – according to the accusatory hypothesis which will be subjected to subsequent procedural verification in the cross-examination with the defense – the ASP would have been misled
in the stipulation of contracts from the possession of the aforementioned requirements falsely declared by the representatives of the clinic and the contracts for the assignment of healthcare services would have
gave rise to an unfair profit and consequent damage to the public coffers of over 9 million euros.
Only in 2022 did the clinic submit a request for specific authorization to carry out healthcare activities for the ophthalmology branch and the related administrative investigation is still underway. Health authorization is an indispensable prerequisite for practicing medical activity, while accreditation, obtained only following proven possession of
additional requirements, allows you to act on behalf of the Regional Health System.
The activity carried out demonstrates the constant supervision ensured by the Vibo Valentia Prosecutor’s Office and the Financial Police in the protection of public spending and, in this case, in the sector
healthcare, aimed at repressing the most sophisticated forms of illicit management of public resources and fraud against the State, ensuring that what citizens pay in taxes returns to the community through efficient services.
