PRATO – Yesterday, the celebrations for the 250th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Guardia di Finanza were held, organized by the Tuscany Regional Command, at the “Luigi Ridolfi” stadium in Florence, and attended by the highest civil, military and religious institutional officials of the Region and the Tuscan Provinces.
Below are the summary data that characterized the work of the Guardia di Finanza of Prato in 2023 and in the first five months of 2024.
FIGHTING FRAUD AND TAX EVASION
In 2023, the Guardia di Finanza of Prato, in line with the directives issued by the top management of the Corps, focused its attention on those subjects characterized by high and concrete risk profiles, concentrating its activities on the illicit activities most damaging to the interests of the treasury and the rules of competition and the market without neglecting other types of illegality that undermine the textile district.
In the tax-fiscal sector, in the period from January 2023 to May 2024, 597 interventions were carried out.
31 total tax evaders discovered, completely unknown to the tax authorities, and 11 paratotal evaders; 417 individuals were reported for tax crimes and 3 for gangmastering.
213 were the illegal workers brought to light and 183 irregular ones.
These were carried out on approximately 600 companies subjected to checks proposals to close 250 VAT numbers of which 119 have already been officially closedfictitiously operating in the manufacturing sector linked to the textile supply chain, as well as in the real estate, commercial and service sectors.
21 interventions on excise duties. 13 were, instead, customs controls on goods introduced into the national territory in tax evasion, counterfeit or in violation of safety regulations.
The anti-smuggling activities have brought to light the phenomenon of illicit supply of raw materials used by companies in the textile-clothing district.
The undue hoarding of fabrics, in addition to being the main basis for other serious illicit phenomena – including tax and social security evasion, labor exploitation, counterfeiting and laundering of illicit proceeds – allows companies that make use of it to impose themselves on the market due to absolutely competitive prices, impracticable for operators who respect the rules.
Within the scope of the service activities carried out in the specific sector, approximately 6 million meters of fabric were seized, for a value of over 7 million euros, of which approximately 3 million were collected for the auctionthanks also to the collaboration with the Customs Agency, with the deposit of the proceeds to the Single Justice Fund (FUG) in implementation of the conversion of the AG’s provision from fabrics to sums of money.
In addition to the aforementioned sum, similarly to what was previously mentioned, in continuation of previous service operations, in the period in question a further sale of seized fabrics was recorded, collecting a further 3 million euros, leading to a total outcome of collection in the FUG for approximately 6 million euros.
Furthermore, in the smuggling sector, 69 kg of foreign manufactured tobacco consumed fraudulently were seized and 5 further individuals were reported.
The checks and investigations against illegal gambling have allowed us to discover 109 clandestine betting points and to report 11 responsible.
PROTECTION OF PUBLIC SPENDING
Part of the resources of the Guardia di Finanza of Prato have been constantly directed, first, to combating improper access to financial instruments demultiplied on the territory with the aim of supporting businesses and professionals and, lastly, to combat the phenomenon of fraud in accessing the measures provided for in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), by carrying out administrative police interventions on the initiative, aimed at verifying the correct use of financial resources within the aforementioned plan and assigned to requesting businesses, in order to comply with the achievement of the objectives set out in the plan itself.
Specifically, the Prato departments carried out 74 checks on natural and legal persons for the PNRR sector, within which 3 subjects were reported for unduly requesting disbursement for an amount equal to 215,000 euros.
In order to increasingly implement inter-institutional collaboration aimed at ensuring effective monitoring of the use of the substantial resources made available and also promote the overall execution of the management and implementation processes of the PNRR projects, the Provincial Command signed specific memoranda of understanding with the Province and with all the Municipalities of the territory in the first months of 2023 aimed at increasingly improving the overall effectiveness of the measures aimed at preventing, investigating and combating violations to the detriment of the economic and financial interests of the European Union, the State, the Regions and local authorities, connected to the support and financing measures of the PNRR.
Still within the scope of the multifaceted activity of combating illicit activities in the field of public spending, the financiers of the Prato Group have carried out extensive monitoring aimed at verifying the regular provision of other forms of support to people to those entitled to it. In particular, they have carried out 58 checks on as many beneficiaries of citizenship income, concluded with the reporting of 39 persons responsible for undue receiptreported to the local Judicial Authority for having illicitly received social allowances for a total amount of approximately 220 thousand euros.
As part of the collaboration with the judicial authority – criminal and accounting – 4 investigations were carried out on the subject of public spending, as a result of which 7 subjects were reported and 7 responsible persons reported to the Court of Auditors, with the ascertainment of treasury damages for 523,758 euros.
There is growing collaboration on the territory with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, with which 3 investigations have been developed that have led to the reporting of 256 responsible parties and the execution of seizures of over 8 million euros.
The action of the Corps in combating corruption phenomena and other crimes against the Public Administration, carried out by leveraging the particular investigative powers that characterize the economic-financial police and developing structured investigations of a technical, financial and patrimonial nature, aimed at reconstructing the criminal directions and the role of the subjects involved, led to the denunciation of 2 subjects.
FIGHTING ORGANIZED AND ECONOMIC-FINANCIAL CRIME
In the fight against organized and economic-financial crime, the Corps’ action aims to block criminal infiltration into the legal economy and, at the same time, to protect the free market and respect for the rules of healthy competition.
In the field of money laundering and self-laundering, 9 people were reported and reconstruction of illicit operations for 4.5 million euros.
Over 391 suspicious financial flows generated by operators of the anti-money laundering prevention system were investigated.
They have been discovered illicit movements for 27 million euros and the verification of 5 violations.
In application of the anti-mafia legislation, 43 individuals were subjected to asset checks, which led to the application of seizure, confiscation and judicial administration measures for a value of over 115,000 euros.
311 checks were then carried out following requests received from the Prefects of the Republic, most of which referred to checks functional to the release of anti-mafia documentation.
In the period under review, the departments of the Provincial Command of Prato have 3,359 grams of narcotic substances were seizedof which 30 grams of cocaine, 328 grams of hashish and 3 kg of marijuana, reporting 45 individuals to the competent authorities. The fight against illicit trafficking, in general, is also ensured within the scope of the “117” Service, which has recently been the subject of interventions in the operational, training and technical-logistical fields, aimed at increasing the operational readiness and effectiveness of intervention of patrols on the territory, in response to citizen reports.
In terms of protecting the market of goods and services, 32 interventions were carried out with the reporting of 22 subjects. Following these activities, 18,578,168 counterfeit products, with false indication of made in Italy, unsafe, were seized.
850 kg of agri-food products (fish and food products) were also seized.
RESCUE OPERATIONS AND COMPETITION IN PUBLIC ORDER AND SAFETY SERVICES
The Guardia di Finanza, as a Police Force and Armed Forces of the State, is included among the operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service and is therefore called upon to deal with calamities and natural disasters as well as to provide its contribution for extraordinary events, which require an exceptional intervention by the state apparatus.
In this perspective, the Provincial Command of Prato also provided its contribution for assistance interventions, on the occasion of the bad weather emergency that also hit the province of Prato in November 2023.
In fact, during the heavy rains and flooding of the Bisenzio River, the territorial component of the Group supported the specialized personnel of the divers, the Alpine rescue and the air service in order to assist all the people in danger.
Finally, by virtue of the usual competitive commitment to protect public order and safety, dedicated support was guaranteed, in the context of the management of public demonstrations and events of particular importance, through the Anti-Terrorism Pronto Impiego component “AT -PI”.
During the period under review, the Provincial Command of Prato employed a total of 2,072 man-days in public order services during demonstrations, sporting events, international gatherings and other events.
Finally, the AT-PI component of the Group provided its contribution in the context of the events organized on the national territory for the Italian Presidency of the G7, through employment in the related fora.
