May 14, 2024, 11:03 am
3 min read
CATANIA – A parallel waste collection channel, which stored enormous quantities of illegally collected rubbish in an unauthorized landfill and then mixed it with legally disposed of waste: this is the system described by the investigations of the Catania Financial Police, coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office, which led to the execution of measures precautionary measures for seven people. Eleven other people were also involved.
The hypothesized crimes are stated in a statement from the Catania Prosecutor’s Office, are organized waste trafficking, fraud, falsehoods committed by public employees. The investigation started from a complaint presented in 2022 by the company DUSTY Srl, at the time manager of the Environmental Hygiene service relating to the “central” lot of the Municipality of Catania.
The investigations
In the complaint, the company reported some employees who would have moved waste of dubious origin and then taking it to landfill, using company vehicles without authorisation. The investigations, carried out by specialized units of GICO, shed light on a fraudulent waste disposal system that allegedly involved several DUSTY employees.
Also involved is a person who owns an area located in via Calliope in Cataniaused for the illegal storage and movement of large quantities of rubbish, and the entrepreneurs who commissioned the illegal collection activity, including in particular the legal representative of a company in Priolo Gargallo, in the province of Syracuse.
The purpose of the system was to achieve an unfair profit. The entrepreneurs saved costs by disposing of the waste outside the authorized channels, while for the other suspects the profit came from the compensation received from the clients for carrying out the illicit disposal.
Illegal waste disposal
During the investigations it was established that one of the main coordinators PA, an employee of DUSTY, was found to have been involved in the abusive activity and made use of the complicity of other unfaithful employees of the aforementioned company, the drivers BA, CL, LP and SS.
Waste boxes to be disposed of illegally they would have initially been concentrated in an area located in via Calliope, called “the garage”, where the owner LS would have provided, through a mechanical spider, the movement on DUSTY trucks, without the company’s knowledge.
Once the garbage is mixed with municipal solid waste coming from the legitimate collection activity in the city of Catania, the drivers of the vehicles would have transported them directly to the landfill or carried out further mixing as a result of the transfer of the load onto a DUSTY compactor.
The clients
Among the clients receiving precautionary measures is DGG, legal representative of a company based in Priolo Gargallo, who allegedly made use of the fraudulent system in order to halve the related disposal costs. In fact, the investigations revealed that, compared to an average cost of around 1,100 euros per tonne expected for the transfer of waste to authorized companies, DGG would have paid around 550 euros to the subjects involved in the illicit activity.
On the basis of the evidence acquired by the PEF Unit of Cataniathe investigating judge at the Etna Court, at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, ordered the application of precautionary measures: obligation to reside in the municipality of residence for the employees of DUSTY PA, BA, CL, LP and SS as well as the owner of the site via Calliope LS.
The prescription for PA and LS is also a ban on removal from the home from 8pm to 8am and the obligation to report to the judicial police closest to the respective home. Finally, the investigating judge established a temporary ban on DGG, the legal representative of the company based in Priolo Gargallo, from carrying out entrepreneurial activities for a period of one year.
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Published on
May 14, 2024, 11:03 am
