Europe police arrest 22 people over suspected €600 million EU Covid fund fraud

4 April 2024

in Asia Pacific

Reading Time: 2 mins read

Authorities arrested 22 folks throughout 4 European international locations on Thursday as a part of a probe right into a suspected €600 million (US$650 million) fraud of Covid restoration cash, the bloc’s prosecutor’s workplace stated.

Dozens of raids have been performed with arrests in Italy, Austria, Romania and Slovakia on account of an investigation into an alleged felony community thought to have scooped up the funds, the European Public Prosecutor’s Workplace stated in a press release.

The felony organisation is “suspected of defrauding €600 million from the EU’s Restoration and Resilience Facility (RRF) for Italy”, the Luxembourg-based EPPO stated.

Indonesia deports Japanese Covid fraud suspect

It added that the Venice workplace of Italy’s monetary police unit, the Guardia di Finanza, froze property price over €600 million on the authority of a pre-trial decide.

Of the 22 arrested suspects, eight have been put in detention pending trial and the opposite 14 have been beneath home arrest, with one, an accountant, banned from practising.

The EPPO stated it had been specializing in an alleged felony community that, between 2021 and 2023, arrange a fraud scheme to acquire cash from Italy’s share of the RRF.

The RRF, established to assist the bloc’s international locations bounce again from the financial blow dealt by the Covid pandemic, was price greater than €720 billion, financed largely by widespread EU borrowing.

That mannequin, notably the joint borrowing, has been touted by some EU international locations as one to duplicate because the European Union steps up its defence trade and cooperation in response to the menace from Russia, and to assist Ukraine.

Source link