In Sicily, the court sentenced 91 members of the organized crime syndicate, who inflicted a loss of 5 million Euros to the European Union (EU) through the agricultural funds it provided, to prison. The court in Patti delivered its verdict in the lawsuit filed in March last year against members of the organization accused of fraud and blackmail in order to obtain EU aid for pasturelands.
Within the scope of the decision, 91 members of the organization were sentenced to prison between 2 and 30 years, while ten defendants were acquitted. Local media reports on the case indicated that between 2010 and 2017, 150 companies defrauded the EU of around 5 million euros over pastures, including land that only exists on paper.
It was determined that the criminal network included ‘white-collar’ people as well as members of the Sicilian-based ‘Cosa Nostra’ mafia. It was reported that the members of the organization applied for EU aid over the lands they controlled by resorting to violence and threats from place to place.
