THE soldiers from the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Catania carried out a measurement real precautionary order ordered by the Court of Catania, during the review, having as its object the preventive seizure, also for equivalent, of the total amount of €397,322.82, equal to the profit from the crime of aggravated fraud committed by a well-known entrepreneur from Palagonia. The ablative provision, already ordered in 2023 by the investigating judge of the Court of Caltagirone, had been released from seizure following a formal appeal lodged by the suspect.
The seizure carried out by the Financiers of the Caltagirone Company is the result of a complex investigative activity coordinated by the local Public Prosecutor’s Office, thanks to which the military discovered a complex fraudulent mechanism aimed at evading the legislation governing the so-called “18app Culture Bonus”.
This benefit, granted by the Ministry of Culture, consists of the provision of vouchers worth 500 euros that can be spent by newly eighteen-year-olds for the purchase of goods or services aimed at promoting the development of culture and knowledge of cultural heritage.
The investigative activity carried out by the calatine yellow flames, also carried out through examination of copious accounting documentation, would have brought to light the existence of an illicit agreement between the entrepreneur and the young holders of the vouchers, consisting in the possibility of purchasing goods other than those foreseen by the law.
In this way, the complicity between the parties would have allowed young people to purchase goods as products of telephones and tablets, with a purchase value higher than the assigned voucher, and the entrepreneur to obtain the illicit advantage of immediate and total reimbursement of the nominal amount of the coupon, equal to 500 euros, provided by the Ministry of Culture.
The soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza of Caltagirone, through the testimonial evidence acquired by the users, they would have ascertained the involvement of around a thousand young people throughout the national territory, who became aware of the illicit stratagem through the so-called “word of mouth” system.
For these facts the financiers, in the current phase of the procedure in which it has not yet been established the cross-examination between the parties, they referred the entrepreneur to the Calatina AG for the crime of aggravated fraud to obtain public funds, while each boy was charged with administrative violation for the undue use of the voucher.
