Milan finance police on Thursday
carried out search operations in the offices of highway agency
ANAS in Milan and Rome as part of a probe conducted by Milan
prosecutors on charges of corruption and action rigging.
The operation, first reported by the online edition of daily
newspaper Repubblica, is being carried out as part of a probe
coordinated by Milan prosecutors Tiziana Siciliano, Giovanni
Polizzi and Giovanna Cavalleri on charges of corruption, auction
rigging, revelation and use of confidential information.
The investigators' hypothesis is that public tenders for the
construction of roads were influenced in exchange for money.
In particular, investigative sources said at least two ANAS
officials are among those being probed by Milan prosecutors for
allegedly granting tenders to specific companies in exchange for
money over road construction work in Lombardy and in
north-eastern Italy.
ANAS offices in Milan and Rome as well as three companies that
carried out work for the highway agency, including Consorzio
Stabile Sis in Turin were searched by police as part of the the
probe, which allegedly involves nine suspects, according to
preliminary information.
Investigators believe bribes for an estimated 400,000 euros were
paid for the control of road construction contracts worth
approximately 400 million euros, sources close to the probe
said.
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