Investigation into EU funding fraud leads to 22 arrests

April 4 (UPI) -- The European Public Prosecutor's Office on Thursday said that nearly two dozen people were arrested in a wide-ranging investigation into the misappropriation of Italian EU Recovery and Resilience Facility Funds.

The prosecutor's office said that 22 people were arrested in Italy, Austria, Romania as part of the probe in which the General Prosecutor's Office said the suspects applied for millions of Euros worth of non-repayable grants and created fake companies to cover their activities.

"It is alleged that a network of accountants, service providers and public notaries supported the suspects to successfully obtain $652 million in non-refundable funds from the Italian NRRP in the timespan of two years," the Prosecutor's Office said.

The Prosecutor's Office said the suspects then transferred funds into bank accounts in Austria, Slovakia and Romania and concealed their activities via a Virtual Private Networks and cloud servers in other nations.

Of the 22 suspects, eight are being held in pretrial detention whereas 14 were placed under house arrest.

Authorities raided suspects' properties and discovered luxury cars, Rolex watches and various items of jewelry.

An Italian court ordered authorities to freeze $652 million in the assets.