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MAFIA

‘Mafia-linked firms’ renovated Sting’s villa

Renovators who restored pop legend Sting's Tuscan villa and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence were allegedly linked to an organized crime syndicate, Italian media reports said on Thursday, citing a police investigation.

Published: 16 January 2014 13:28 CET
'Mafia-linked firms' renovated Sting's villa
Builders allegedly linked to the mafia worked on Sting's Tuscan villa. Photo: Frazer Harrison/AFP

GGF and PDP Construction are accused of running an elaborate scam involving €10 million ($13.61 million) worth of fake invoices in a hustle dreamt up by a known crook, the police said.

Their list of work includes the historic site of Florence's Hard Rock Cafe, Sting's 16th-century mansion in Chianti and the Uffizi, which houses paintings by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci.

The companies were registered under "clean" names but actually belonged to Giovanni Potenza, 62, who is linked to the Camorra crime syndicate and was found guilty in 2007 of mafia association, the reports said.

Police on Wednesday arrested six people in connection with the plot, and seized €11 million worth of assets including villas, luxury cars and bank accounts.

GGF and PDP relied on bogus companies in the region providing them with counterfeited invoices between 2007 and 2012 in exchange for a cut of the profits.

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PROPERTY

Copenhagen nature area to be developed as city approves land sale

A part of the Amager Fælled nature area has lost its reserve status and can now be sold to investors, after a majority in the city's municipal council voted in favour of development on Thursday.

Published: 5 February 2021 12:42 CET
Copenhagen nature area to be developed as city approves land sale
Amager Fælled. File photo: Asger Ladefoged/Ritzau Scanpix

The 219,000 square-kilometre area, known as Lærkesletten, can be sold to developers who wish to build homes on the land, broadcaster TV2 reported.

The sale raises money needed by the city to pay for the new Metro lines, which opened last year, and was part of a political deal agreed in 2017.

City councillors from the Social Democrats, Social Liberals, Liberals, Conservatives, Danish People's Party and two independents voted in favour, while Red-Green Alliance, Alternative and Independent Green parties and one independent opposed.

Located on the southern edge of the natural area on island Amager, the area is frequently used by people from the city for cycling, running and walking.

“We have seen that nature and the environment are at the centre of the public’s perception of what’s important. They want real wild nature in Denmark,” Gorm Anker Gunnarsen, who represents the Red-Green Alliance on the city council, told news agency Ritzau.

An Epinion survey this week showed that 76 percent of people who live in Copenhagen are either partly or completely against development of the area.

Gunnarsen told Ritzau he still believes there is a chance of preserving the nature zone.

“We have the authority to withdraw a building permit in special circumstances,” he said.

An advisory public vote could on the matter provide the basis for this, he argued.

“This case will not then just rest on which party you are with, but also on your view of the individual case,” he said.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen natural area Amager Fælled gets new development plan

 

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