Millions meant for migrant care ‘skimmed off by Italian mafia’
TENS of millions of euros in public funds destined for migrant reception centres in Italy have allegedly been syphoned off in one of the biggest mafia scams of recent times, it has been claimed.
More than 68 people were arrested in the dawn raids carried out by Italian authorities yesterday – including the parish priest and the head of the Catholic association managing one of Europe’s largest migrant and asylum seeker reception centres in the Calabrian town of Isola di Capo Rizzuto.
“The welcome centre was the cash machine for the ’Ndrangheta clan,” said Gen Giuseppe Governale of the Carabinieri.
The sting, dubbed Operation Jonny, is said to have involved more than 500 law enforcement agents, many of whom are believed to have worked long periods undercover to secretly record and expose the alleged infiltration of the Arena family, one of the ferocious ’Ndrangheta crime syndicate clans, into the lucrative area of migrant management.
The Isola di Capo Rizzuto migrant and asylum seeker reception centre on the Calabrian coast near Crotone is one of the largest reception points in Europe, able to host up to 1,600 people.
Of the more than €103million in EU and Italian funds directed to the centre between 2006 and 2015, approximately €36 million (£30.6 million) was syphoned off by the Arena family or misused, Italian police have said.
Leonard Sacco, the head of the Catholic Misericordia association that operates the centre, is accused of helping the clan land contracts for catering services at Isola Capo Rizzuto as well as at a centre on the island of Lampedusa, two of the first places in Italy where migrants are brought on to European soil after being rescued at sea.
The skimming allegedly resulted in a scarcity of food and sub-standard meals. “There was never enough food – and it was the kind of food we usually give to the pigs,” said the Catanzaro prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, one of Italy’s toughest anti-mafia magistrates. “There were companies set up purposely for food service and with that money they bought theatres, cinemas, apartments, land, cars and luxury boats.”
Even the town’s parish priest, Father Edoardo Scordio, is accused of taking €132,000 in 2017 for services related to “spiritual assistance” at the centre.
Yet the National Anti-corruption Authority czar, Raffaele Cantone, said he believed the operation may have “only revealed the tip of the iceberg”.
About 175,000 people are housed in Italy’s reception centres. As part of its investigation, the Crotone prefecture said it appeared the official number of people at the Isola Capo Rizzuto centre was inflated so that management could get funding for “ghost” migrants.
Meanwhile, in a separate mafia bust in Milan yesterday, police seized assets and detained associates of the Sicilybased Laudani mafia clan for allegedly infiltrating the German supermarket chain Lidl. Prosecutors discovered the mafia had allegedly been paying bribes in exchange for logistics and transport contracts. Lidl Italia maintained its innocence, noting it was not under investigation and was co-operating with the authorities.