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Poland calls for extradition of Italy gang-rape suspects

Poland will seek the extradition from Italy of four men suspected of raping a Polish tourist, the country's deputy justice minister has said.

Published: 6 September 2017 11:18 CEST
Poland calls for extradition of Italy gang-rape suspects
Forensic police working at the scene of the attack. Photo: Italian police

Polish authorities have opened an investigation into the attack, in which the four men are accused of badly beating up the woman's boyfriend before attacking her. They are also accused of raping a Peruvian transgender woman on the same night.

Patryk Jaki, Poland's deputy justice minister, said the four should face a severe punishment “as an example”, however it is not yet clear if Italy will allow the extradition.

The suspected 'leader' of the gang, a 20-year-old, was arrested on a train on Sunday, the last of the four to be arrested and the only adult among the suspects.

Two other members of the gang, brothers aged 15 and 17, handed themselves into police in connection with the rapes on Saturday – reportedly after their father recognized the boys in CCTV images and told them to report themselves. A third suspect aged 16 was detained shortly afterwards. 

On Tuesday, a judge in Bologna upheld the arrest of the 20-year-old and ruled that the three minors be held on remand in jail, and that they should be prevented from communication with each other.

READ ALSO: How can Italy tackle gendered violence?

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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