PESARO The fake company, which never existed, was registered in Pesaro. The objective was to obtain Pnrr financing for the internationalization of companies. A request for funds of 15 million euros was crushed by the financiers of the Provincial Command of Pesaro, as part of a complex judicial police operation called “The carousel has stopped”.
The investigation
The yellow flames carried out 3 precautionary custody orders against 3 suspects, a precautionary disqualification measure against a fourth suspect and preventive seizures against them and two companies for 490,198.62 euros. They are three people from Salerno between 40 and 50 years old and an Argentine figurehead resident in Senigallia, formally owner of the Sell More based in Pesaro in via Sotto la Rocchetta 26. The orders and decrees were issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Pesaro, at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (Eppo) of Bologna. The activity also made it possible to block illicit requests for public funding, disbursed with Pnrr funds for over 15 million euros, which would have been allocated by Simest (a company owned by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti). The preliminary investigations into the Pesaro company had made it possible to validate the investigative hypothesis of aggravated fraud to obtain public funds. The investigations have identified further similar cases involving similar fraud practices in favor of other companies with registered offices in the provinces of Ravenna and Bolzano. The overall picture thus outlined highlighted, against the suspects, as many as 15 cases of aggravated fraud involving numerous requests for financing to support Italian companies in their internationalization process, in relation to which, thanks to the active collaboration of Simest, it was disbursement of a sum exceeding 15 million euros was prevented. The suspects would have created or taken over joint-stock companies which, in fact, were empty boxes, devoid of any operation with registered offices and local units that were totally non-existent or attributable to corporate domiciliation services only, kept alive specifically to defraud the bodies responsible for the disbursement of public money.
Budget created on paper
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 totally false financial statements that showed revenues in the millions. They then presented Simest with a series of requests for financing, motivating them with an alleged desire to internationalize the company, develop electronic commerce or enter foreign markets. Having obtained an initial disbursement of funding, they removed the money from the accounts with withdrawals and bank transfers, so much so that they were also charged with 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 to create the false millionaire balance sheets.
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