European Public Prosecutor's Office,update

18/09/2026   European Public Prosecutor's Office News

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Italy: EPPO conducts searches and freezes assets in probe into suspected fraud involving RRF funds (Luxembourg, 18 September 2026) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Milan (Italy) has conducted searches and froze assets worth €2.6 million in an investigation into suspected fraud involving resources by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), financed through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The assets were frozen as part of a €4.9 million order issued by the judge for preliminary investigations at the Court of Milan against four companies and their legal representatives, suspected of having benefited from fictitious invoices and unlawful labour arrangements. The suspects allegedly created fictitious tax credits worth €2.38 million by falsely claiming to have provided employee training courses, which were never carried out. The fictitious tax credits were then used to reduce the tax and social security payments for hundreds of workers, who were subsequently illegally supplied to third-party companies. The investigation also uncovered a separate suspected fraud involving two companies that obtained €7.3 million in state-guaranteed financing on the basis of having provided false information in their applications. The evidence further indicates that both schemes relied on shell companies and fictitious invoices for non-existent transactions. In addition, a suspected international money-laundering scheme involving companies in several countries, through which hundreds of millions of euros were transferred to China and Hong Kong, was discovered. The EPPO-led investigation is carried out by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) in Milan. All persons concerned are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law. The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.   more

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