22 people have been apprehended by the European police and assets worth over 600 million euros were seized in connection with a fraud case involving the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery fund.
The EU prosecutor looked into things and then caught eight people, put 14 others on house arrest, and stopped two others from working. People were arrested in Italy, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia.
The Italian financial police took Lamborghinis, Porsches, Rolexes, Cartier jewelry, cryptocurrencies, luxury villas and other things during many searches of homes and offices.
The possible fraud might make people worry about the EU’s €800-billion recovery fund being used in the wrong way to boost the economy of the bloc again. Italy received the most money from the fund, getting over 194 billion in grants.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) believes that a criminal group is suspected of carrying out a scam from 2021 to 2023 to cheat Italy’s recovery funds.
In 2021, the group asked for grants that they didn’t have to pay back. They said it was to help small and medium-sized companies. But they lied and made fake documents to make it look like the companies were doing well when they weren’t real.
After receiving about 600 million from the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the group moved the money to their bank accounts in Austria, Romania, and Slovakia, according to the EPPO.
The prosecutor’s office said the group used digital money, computer programs that act like human intelligence, and servers located in other countries to commit and hide the fraud.
The United States has tried to stop people from cheating to get money meant to help with Covid-19. In June, a government agency said the Small Business Administration gave out over US$200 billion in fake pandemic relief money.
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European police seize Lamborghinis over alleged US$650 million COVID-19 fraud
