(Luxembourg, 4 October 2024) - At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), a freezing order exceeding €20 000 was executed last week against twelve public officials. The order, issued by the Palermo Court's judge for preliminary investigations, is part of an investigation into the embezzlement of EU funds for public school projects in a socially deprived area of Sicily.
The school has been the subject of an investigation into embezzlement of EU funds, as you can read in a previous press release. Further investigative measures carried out by the Palermo Carabinieri Investigative Unit revealed that ten public officials, namely teachers and school assistants, were accomplices in additional EU funds embezzlement cases.
According to the investigation, they acted as experts or tutors in EU-funded scholarship programmes and forged documents certifying the implementation of activities that were never, or only partially, carried out. Additionally, the public officials falsely declared the number of pupils present during extracurricular hours and their own presence during those hours. In so doing, the public school principal, her deputy and their colleagues received over €100 000 in EU funds for their school.
€20 000 were frozen on the bank accounts of the twelve suspects.
All persons concerned are presumed to be 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.