EU Orders Italy To Refund $471 Million After Discovery Of Mafia-Linked Motorway
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The Italian government must repay a record 381 million euros ($471 million) to the European Union for grants involving a motorway in the south of the country, reported the Associated Press on Friday, after anti-fraud investigators alleged that the project had been riddled by mafia infiltration, corruption and kickbacks.
The Italian government must repay a record 381 million euros ($471 million) to the European Union for grants involving a motorway in the south of the country, reported the Associated Press on Friday, after anti-fraud investigators alleged that the project had been riddled by mafia infiltration, corruption and kickbacks.
On Thursday, OLAF, the European Commission’s anti-fraud office, claimed that they had found widespread “irregularities” surrounding repairs and upgrades to a stretch of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria autostrada; and placed the blame on the government for failing to ensure financial transparency.
”The sum has been formally recovered following investigations focusing on two separate intervention programs, spread over several years, but all concerning the Salerno-Reggio Calabria autostrada,” said OLAF’s head Giovanni Kessler.
[quote]”This money had already been spent, so the Italian state is obliged to give it back to the EU with the burden subsequently falling on taxpayers.”[/quote]Additionally, OLAF noted the majority of the 381 million euros had been lost to fraud, fake contracts and fictitious road works, and that much renovation works on the motorway were still ongoing, despite previous claims that they would be completed by 2003.
The Salerno-Reggio Calabria autostrada, which stretches 494.4 km from the south of Naples to the city of Reggio Calabria, near the edge of the Italian peninsula, has been dogged by corruption allegations for years.
In 2008, Italian historian Leandra D’Antone, described the motorway as “a true Italian shame”, given its notoriously poor road conditions and level of maintenance.
The motorway also passes through the region of Calabria, which is infamous its ‘Ndrangheta mafia, an organised crime syndicate now regarded as being more powerful than the better-known Cosa Nostra of Sicily
Though OLAF admitted that details surrounding the mafia ties to the motorway were still sketchy, Italian investigations into mafia-related fraud were still ongoing.
ANAS, Italy’s national roads agency, though insisted that the repayment was made due to a misunderstanding, after funds were moved from one project to another.
[quote]”This is about transfers of funds of equal amount from projects concerning the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway to other projects in progress, also falling within ANAS’ competence,” the agency said in a statement cited by The Telegraph.[/quote]Related: Italy’s Financial Turmoil Turns Mafia Into Nation’s Largest Bank
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Nevertheless, the refund is still likely to weigh heavily on the nation’s budget deficit, especially with Italy still 1.9 trillion euros in debt.
Tino Iannuzzi, an MP for the centre-Left Democratic Party, called the refund “an injustice for citizens”, as taxpayers suffered both from the initial corruption and now the bill for the repayment of funds.
OLAF’s head Giovanni Kessler also expressed his concern that, as austerity and the recession hit public finances, governments were becoming less willing to report fraud.
“The decrease of information from public authorities is something which is worrying us,” he said.
Kessler added the fight against fraud was “even more crucial” at a time of economic crisis because EU funds were needed to promote growth.
