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CRIME

Italy’s top football club accused of mafia links

Juventus are consulting lawyers to protect the club's "honour and integrity" after a newspaper report linked club officials to hardline ultra-fans with organized crime connections via a ticket touting scam.

Italy's top football club accused of mafia links
Juventus supporters hold up a giant team jersey. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

A report in Rome-based daily Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper on Thursday claimed Juventus president Andrea Agnelli had met with ultra leader Rocco Dominello, who was arrested for association with the 'Ndrangheta.

The report claimed the Calabrian mafia organization infiltrated groups of ultra fans who follow the club, touting tickets supplied by Juventus for profit.

Dominello, reportedly introduced to Agnelli by another former ultra leader, was discovered to have links with the 'Ndrangheta during an investigation into several Turin-based families with links to the southern Italian criminal syndicate.

Juventus vehemently denied the claims surrounding Agnelli in a statement which said: “In light of certain articles published in recent days, Juventus Football Club and President Andrea Agnelli have entrusted the protection of their honour and integrity to lawyers.

“It is noted the Turin public prosecutor has recently concluded an investigation into certain families considered to belong to the 'Ndrangheta,who have been charged with criminal behaviour and the attempted infiltration of some of the activities of Juventus Football Club.

“It was also noted that no employee or affiliate has been investigated in criminal court. It is also noted that… the club has always co-operated by maintaining strict confidentiality to maintain the secrecy of the investigation.”

Juventus, bidding for a record sixth consecutive Serie A title, sit top of the Italian championship with a one-point lead on Roma ahead of Sunday's visit to Sassuolo.

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.

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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