Assets worth €254,000 seized from four Italian livestock farmers suspected of EU subsidy fraud
The European Public Prosecutor's Office in Palermo has obtained a seizure of property and payment rights valued at approximately €254,000. The livestock farmers are accused of unlawfully obtaining over €450,000 in EU agricultural funds.
Assets worth €254,000 seized from four Italian livestock farmers suspected of EU subsidy fraud
Property and payment rights with a total value of approximately €254,000 have been seized in Italy as part of an investigation into fraud involving European agricultural funds. Agriland
At the request of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) based in Palermo, the investigating judge at Catania's Court issued a preventive seizure order. The order was executed by Carabinieri from the Agricultural Products Protection Unit in Messina.
The four livestock farmers are suspected of having submitted applications to the Agency for Agricultural Disbursements (AGEA), the Italian body responsible for managing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies, declaring that they had carried out grazing activities on land external to their own properties.
According to investigators, the livestock farmers would not have activated the mandatory "pasture code," an official registration that authorises grazing on plots external to the main holding and that triggers mandatory veterinary checks. They are believed to have acted deliberately to avoid veterinary checks on livestock movements, in breach of the conditions for receiving public subsidies.
The EPPO contends that the suspects unlawfully obtained over €450,000 in agricultural funds from the European Union. The seizure order concerned the sums unlawfully received.
Among the seized assets were several properties, assets and AGEA payment rights. The EPPO clarified that all individuals involved are presumed innocent until proven guilty before the competent Italian courts.
The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union, responsible for investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating offences against the financial interests of the EU.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)