Six held in probe into building firms with alleged links to Neapolitan mafia

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/six-held-italy-mafia-building-probe

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Six people have been arrested as part of an investigation into businesses with alleged links to the Neapolitan mafia which are understood to have carried out work on various high-profile locations in Tuscany – including on the home of the singer Sting.

Police in Florence said they had seized property and other goods worth more than €11m (£9.2m) on Wednesday as they took the men into custody on suspicion of involvement in an alleged plan to secure construction contracts by offering "very advantageous prices" through tax evasion and false invoicing.

A police source who asked to remain anonymous confirmed that the businesses concerned had been involved in works carried out on a 16th-century estate, Il Palagio, near Florence, belonging to the former Police frontman.

The world-famous Uffizi gallery was also reported to be on the firms' list of clients. There is no suggestion any of the clients were aware of the alleged fraud or alleged mafia links.

The work was carried out to the expected standards and the businesses had managed to acquire the necessary anti-mafia certification, police said.

In a statement, Florence's Guardia di Finanza said the arrests were the conclusion of a two-year investigation into an alleged criminal association between two Tuscan construction firms – GGF and PDP Construction – and several shell companies with links to a "well-known" clan within the Camorra, the mafia with a powerbase in the southern city of Naples.

Investigators allege the construction firms evaded more than €3m (£2.5m) in taxes through false invoices from the shell companies which enabled them to artificially inflate their costs and reduce their taxable income.

"Thanks to the undoubted economic advantages obtained by the false budget claims … the two Tuscan companies were able to enter the market with prices that effectively prevented 'honest' businesses from putting up any form of competition, thus guaranteeing themselves the awarding of significant public and private contracts," investigators alleged in the statement.

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