THE financiers of the Provincial Command of Ragusa have concluded a detailed investigation into the undue receipt of large amounts of funding from the European Union relating to land located in the municipalities of Vittoria and Acate (RG), by an agricultural company based in Scordia (CT).
The investigations of the Compagnia di Vittoria, coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office of Palermo, have made it possible to reconstruct the fraud system used, through which the agricultural company allegedly deceived the Agency for Agricultural Payments (AGEA) , for the period from 2017 to 2023, consisting of the presentation of single payment applications certifying the availability of various lands, effectively owned by third parties.
The checks carried out at the Revenue Agency and the examination of the documents of the legitimate owners have made it possible to ascertain the falsity of the land leasing contracts presented to the AGEA, against which an EAGF (European Agricultural Fund) loan was illicitly obtained of Guarantee) for over 650,000 euros.
The timely intervention also made it possible to block further sums being disbursed, quantified at over 50,000 euros, thus avoiding the waste of important public resources made available by the European Union to finance the development of a strategic sector such as agriculture.
In consideration of the evidentiary elements collected, at the request of the European Delegated Prosecutor for Sicily and Calabria, the Judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Caltagirone issued a preventive seizure decree for the sums unduly received and sent for trial, for the crime of aggravated fraud, the two partners of the agricultural company.
The Fiamme Gialle Vittoriasi carried out the aforementioned measure this week, subjecting the current accounts, properties and cars available to the two subjects to seizure.
Due to the principle of presumption of innocence, the responsibilities of the suspects will be definitively ascertained only in the event of an irrevocable conviction.
This operation demonstrates the constant supervision ensured by the Guardia di Finanza as economic-financial police, in close synergy with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, also for the repression of fraud on the Union budget, to protect companies that respect legality and to guarantee transparent and efficient public funding.
May 24, 2024 | 09:23
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