(ANSA) - CATANIA, MARCH 21 - The Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Catania, at the end of a complex investigative activity initiated by the Provincial Directorate of INPS, reported 267 undue recipients of the Citizenship Income to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The damage to the treasury estimated by the investigators is over 1.3 million euros.
An investigation had been launched into applicants who had failed to receive agricultural unemployment benefit.
Investigations also revealed false attestations on the composition and income of households.
Soldiers from the Armed Forces and INPS personnel also discovered that several non-EU citizens were collecting the subsidy even though they had not been resident in Italy for at least 10 years.
Among the cases that emerged was that of a 44-year-old from Gravina di Catania, who despite living with his father in a social housing, for which the parent has not paid the rent for almost 30 years, falsely declared that he was paying 500 euros of rent per month to obtain a share plus the benefit.
Among the 267 reported there are also criminals from the perdilinquere association aimed at drug trafficking and illegal immigration, extortion, robbery, money laundering, family abuse and persecution.
Abusive parking attendants and eleven belonging to the 'Caminanti' were also reported.
Since 2021, the carabinieri of the provincial command of Catania have already reported another 640 alleged recipients without the right of citizenship income, for damage to the state coffers, in the three-year period 2020-2022, of around 5 million euros.
(HANDLE).