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Florence: Body of woman found in bin bag

The body of a woman was found in a ditch in the outskirts of Florence, Italian media reported on Monday. Police suspect it could be the body of a 43-year-old woman reported missing two months ago.

Published: 30 March 2015 12:23 CEST
Florence: Body of woman found in bin bag
Photo: Shutterstock

The body was discovered in a black plastic bin-bag in a ditch filled with water in the neighbourhood of Piagge in the north-west outskirts of the Tuscan city.

According to Corriere della sera the body, which was in advanced stages of decomposition, was dressed in a top and jeans, the style of which enabled investigators to determine the body was that of a woman.

The alarm was raised by a passer-by who saw an arm protruding from the plastic bag, which was torn on one side.

Police suspect it could be the body of 43-year-old Irene Focardi, who disappeared on February 3rd in the same area where she lived with her mother.

During the investigation into Focardi’s disappearance, she was discovered to have had a violent argument with her ex-partner.

Around a year ago he was arrested and convicted for abuse and is currently serving a sentence under house arrest.

However, he has not escaped during this time and has shown no unusual behaviour. He also does not own a car. 

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CRIME

Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

Italy is conducting more investigations into alleged fraud of funds from the EU post-Covid fund and has higher estimated losses than any other country, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said.

Published: 8 April 2024 17:05 CEST
Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

The EPPO reportedly placed Italy under special surveillance measures following findings that 179 out of a total of 206 investigations into alleged fraud of funds through the NextGenerationEU programme were in Italy, news agency Ansa reported.

Overall, Italy also had the highest amount of estimated damage to the EU budget related to active investigations into alleged fraud and financial wrongdoing of all types, the EPPO said in its annual report published on Friday.

The findings were published after a major international police investigation into fraud of EU recovery funds on Thursday, in which police seized 600 million euros’ worth of assets, including luxury villas and supercars, in northern Italy.

The European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, established to help countries bounce back from the economic blow dealt by the Covid pandemic, is worth more than 800 billion euros, financed in large part through common EU borrowing.

READ ALSO: ‘It would be a disaster’: Is Italy at risk of losing EU recovery funds?

Italy has been the largest beneficiary, awarded 194.4 billion euros through a combination of grants and loans – but there have long been warnings from law enforcement that Covid recovery funding would be targeted by organised crime groups.

2023 was reportedly the first year in which EU financial bodies had conducted audits into the use of funds under the NextGenerationEU program, of which the Recovery Fund is part.

The EPPO said that there were a total of 618 active investigations into alleged fraud cases in Italy at the end of 2023, worth 7.38 billion euros, including 5.22 billion euros from VAT fraud alone.

At the end of 2023, the EPPO had a total of 1,927 investigations open, with an overall estimated damage to the EU budget of 19.2 billion euros.

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