PESARO – Four precautionary measures and preventive seizures for an amount of 490,198.62 euros. It is the account of the operation “THE CAROUSEL HAS STOPPED” led by the yellow flames of Pesaro.
The complex investigation activity, conducted by the Economic-Financial Police Unit of Pesaro, was initially undertaken against a limited liability company with formally declared headquarters in Pesaro, beneficiary of subsidized financing guaranteed by the State and the European Union attributable to a person who was the director and sole shareholder.
Further investigations have made it possible to ascertain the hypothesis of aggravated fraud for the obtaining of public funds and to identify further similar cases in favor of other companies with registered offices in the provinces of Ravenna and Bolzano. The overall picture that has emerged against the suspects has brought to light 15 cases of aggravated fraud and made it possible to block illicit requests for public funding, provided with funds from the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), for over 15 million euros, which would have been allocated by SIMEST (a company owned by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti).
The suspects had devised a modus operandi that had managed to overcome even the checks carried out by the granting bodies. They created or took over joint-stock companies which, in fact, were empty boxes, devoid of any operations, kept alive specifically to defraud the bodies responsible for disbursing public money.
The companies used, in fact, had never submitted the required tax returns, some even for over 20 years, but the suspects took care to create at least two completely false financial statements “on paper” which showed revenues in the millions, depositing them electronically to the Company Register, thus committing the crime of false corporate communications. They then presented to SIMEST a series of requests for financing – partly also non-repayable – guaranteed by the State and/or with European funds, motivating them with an asserted desire to internationalize the company, develop electronic commerce or for inclusion in foreign markets.
Through the communication of the aforementioned false information, which misled the resource manager, they managed to obtain an initial disbursement of the financing which was immediately diverted from the company current accounts through systematic cash withdrawals at automatic teller machines (ATMs) as well as through bank transfers. banking also in favor of other subjects (individuals and companies) unrelated to the corporate structure, thus committing both the crime of embezzlement of public funds and the crime of self-laundering.
The further investigations were decisive in identifying a “technical direction” carried out which is believed to have been carried out by an accountant who actively worked for the “table” creation of the false millionaire balance sheets, for their transmission and deposit to the Companies Registry, to alter both the contracts with suppliers (also non-existent and made available by the same accountant), and the bank statements preparatory to obtaining the subsequent tranches of money, which only the timely intervention of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Financial Police prevented its delivery.
The other three suspects are subjects who have always officially lacked income and economic/financial capacity, who do not carry out any actual work, but are constantly looking for new illicit businesses to create, aware of the fact that “if the merry-go-round stops I want to see what we do”, as stated several times by the suspects during the wiretaps, which were crucial for challenging criminal conduct.
