Chinese masks without certificates, all the details on the investigation
The latest developments of the investigation into Chinese masks without certificates, imported by the European Network Tlc and sold to the Civil Protection of Lazio for 22 million euros. Names, numbers and details
We are still in the first months of the pandemic, in 2020. A company, in full Covid emergency, has sent a supply of masks and gowns from China, sold to the Civil Protection of Lazio for an amount of almost 22 million euros. The devices, however, lack the necessary certifications because they are counterfeit.
This is what emerged as part of the investigation conducted by the Rome prosecutor's office, which today led to the “Down the Mask” operation, conducted by the financiers of the Provincial Command of Rome, with three arrests and a preventive seizure.
THE FACTS
Let's start with the facts. In the first phase of the health emergency (between March and April 2020), the European Network Tlc sent a supply of 5 million Ffp2 masks and 430,000 gowns from China, to be allocated to the Lazio Region for a total price of about 22 million. EUR.
The masks, however, lacked the necessary certifications, according to the prosecution of the magistrates.
COMPANIES IN KNOWLEDGE OF LACK OF CERTIFICATIONS
And the European Network Tlc was aware of this, since, according to Adnkronos , it "first provided documents issued by bodies not included among the appointed bodies to issue the specific certification and, subsequently, to overcome the critical issues that emerged during the procedures for customs clearance of goods from China, produced false certificates of conformity supplied by Romeo also through an English company attributable to him, or rather not related to the goods actually sold ".
THE INVESTIGATION
On the recommendation of the regional agency of the Civil Protection of Lazio to the prosecutor of Rome, the financiers of the Public Spending Protection Group of the Economic-Financial Police Unit, have launched an investigation by reconstructing the whole affair.
THE ARRESTS
As part of the investigation, according to Adnkronos , the soldiers of the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome have recently carried out "the order for the application of personal and real precautionary measures with which the investigating judge of the Capitoline Court , at the request of the public prosecutor of Rome, ordered the house arrest of Andelko Aleksic, 41, Vittorio Farina, 66, already active in the print media sector, and Domenico Romeo, 51, under investigation, for various reasons, for fraud in public supplies and aggravated fraud as well as, Aleksic and Farina, also for trafficking in illicit influences ".
THE ESTIMATE SEQUEST
Not only. A preventive seizure was also prepared, against the three arrested and the Milanese company European network Tlc Srl, equal to the profit of the disputed crimes, or 22 million euros.
GIP: COMPANIES HAVE EXPLOITED EMERGENCY
“The conduct carried out is all the more serious if contextualized in the moment of health emergency in which they occurred. Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the emergency legislation adopted, taking advantage of the moment of extreme difficulty in which the country was facing an uncontrolled epidemic, the suspects (Romeo took over at a later time) did not hesitate to try to profit, acquire easy earnings favored by substantial impossibility of control by the customer on the quality of the goods that were supplied as a protection device ”, writes the investigating judge Francesca Ciranna in the order with which she ordered the arrests.
THE ARCURI VERSION
At the moment Domenico Arcuri is not investigated in the affair and is the object of the traffic of influences. "In relation to the investigation into the masks intended for the Civil Protection of Lazio, in which conversations between the suspects published today are quoted as the former Covid Emergency Commissioner, moreover unrelated to the investigation and probably once again the subject of illicit influence trafficking , we believe it is useful to specify that neither the European Network Tlc company nor the persons involved in the investigations have received any promise, any assignment or any assignment from the former Commissioner or the Commissioner Structure. The company, like many others, had sent various proposals to none of which was ever given any follow-up by the Structure itself ", write from the Press Office of Domenico Arcuri, former Commissioner for extraordinary emergencies, replaced by Mario Draghi with General Figliuolo .
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THE ORDER OF THE GIP FRANCESCA CIRANNA ( Published in AdnKronos )
“The conduct carried out is all the more serious if contextualized in the moment of health emergency in which they occurred. Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the emergency legislation adopted, taking advantage of the moment of extreme difficulty in which the country was facing an uncontrolled epidemic, the suspects (Romeo took over at a later time) did not hesitate to try to profit, acquire easy earnings favored by substantial impossibility for the customer to check the quality of the goods that were supplied as a protection device ". This is what the investigating magistrate Francesca Ciranna writes in the order with which she ordered three precautionary measures as part of the investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office for the supply of masks and gowns for civil protection in Lazio.
“The suspects have acted with great ruthlessness – writes the investigating judge – Romeo has provided (and seems to still provide) false certificates of conformity, Aleksic has shown that he is aware of the falsity of the certificates; Farina is the "fixer" who has kept contacts with subjects close to the commissioner, in order to easily obtain the conclusion of a supply that is advantageous for the company ".
”There is a real danger of the crime being repeated. The health emergency is still in progress and from the interceptions carried out it emerges that an intense activity of procuring new supply contracts is still underway ', writes the investigating judge.
"On 24 June Ent srl made a transfer of 58,784 to the current account in the name of the spouses Romano Francesco Saverio and (…) reported as a suspicious transaction by the Tax Police as it has no reason", writes the investigating judge.
“The investigation stems from the report of 9 April 2020 by the manager of the regional civil protection Carmelo Tulumello. The Civil Protection of Lazio, due to the health emergency, had proceeded to assign supply contracts for various types of PPE; as part of this activity, it entrusted the company European Network tcl srl with a supply of five million Ce-marked Ffp2 masks ”, the order continues. "In execution of this contract, the company made the supply through multiple deliveries starting from March 31, 2020 to April 7, 2020".
In relation to the supply that arrived on 7 April 2020 – reads the ordinance – the Customs Agency communicated that there were difficulties in carrying out the customs clearance procedure, given the alleged irregularity of the Ce certificates and the brand present on the packaging. In fact, in the service report of 9 April 2020, the head of the Customs office reported to the civil protection that the European network tcl company had requested the customs clearance of the goods with the CE mark, as indicated in the bill, attaching the certification issued by the company Ecm Srl.
From a subsequent check, the Customs had ascertained that the Ecm is not an accredited body and, therefore, the masks with the Ce mark did not seem to correspond to the expected standards. The request for customs clearance was therefore rejected.
INTERCEPTIONS (Published in AdnKronos )
"Domenico promised me that if the letter arrives, he will authorize that purchase". This is what we read in an interception contained in the order of the investigating judge Ciranna. According to the provision, "on the occasion of a further trip to Rome, Farina Vittorio managed to meet the extraordinary commissioner Arcuri Domenico, as seems to emerge from the timely updates made by Farina to Aleksic".
In an intercepted conversation Vittorio Farina "swore he had spoken with Domenico Arcuri to include Ent tlc Srl as a subsidiary supplier" to two other companies "for the supply of masks for the reopening of schools throughout the country", writes the investigating judge in the ordinance.
"You let me work, I have ample delegation from you, I make you … very very wealthy, maybe you could even be considered rich", as stated by Vittorio Farina in an intercepted conversation with Andelko Aleksic, according to what is read in the ordinance.
And again: speaking of the gowns, Andelko Aleksic reports that he is interested in the certificate and adds "so I know all false certificates", reads the interception reported in the ordinance.
"You who are a great friend of Arcuri, launched into the business of desks, have you heard this story of desks?", Says a person addressing Vittorio Farina in a conversation intercepted and contained in the ordinance. In the same conversation Farina replies: "Yes, but how do I do it, too much". And the other: "Three million desks, at an average price of 50 euros".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/mascherine-cinesi-senza-certificati-tutti-i-dettagli-sullinchiesta/ on Wed, 03 Mar 2021 15:45:05 +0000.