Arrests, seizures over NRRP-funded migrant hosting contracts

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 24 - Rome and Frosinone police on Thursday morning carried out a major operation involving the seizure of assets and the arrest of a group of people charged with criminal association aimed at illicitly obtaining public contracts awarded through the EU-funded post-COVID National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to host migrants, according to investigative sources. The arrest and search warrants were issued by a preliminary investigations judge (GIP) in Frosinone after a probe directed by the Rome unit of the European public prosecution's office.
    The arrest of an unspecified number of people and search operations were carried out by Frosinone police flying squad and by Rome's central anti-crime service.
    The suspects are charged with "criminal association aimed at corruption" to win NRRP-funded public contracts.
    They include entrepreneurs and professionals who work in the provinces of Frosinone and Naples, as well as municipal officials in Frosinone, investigative sources said.
    The suspects have been placed under house arrest and have been banned from signing public contracts with the public administration.
    The probe that led to the operation on Thursday is one of the first results of investigative activities coordinated by European prosecutors into suspected corruption cases connected to NRRP funding, the sources said. (ANSA).