Today's Edition
PARIS/ROME/MUNICH (dpa)
Investigators have uncovered shell companies in Italy, France and Germany, and seized properties worth millions on the Côte d'Azur in a crackdown on money laundering by the Italian Mafia.
The financial investigations, led by the investigation unit in Rome, specialist investigators in Marseille and the department for economic crime in Munich with the help of Europol, were directed against a group belonging to the Camorra, according to the public prosecutor's office in Marseille.
The gang is said to have transferred criminal money to bank accounts in Italy, France, Germany and Tunisia through the shell companies, while pretending to have legitimate income from construction, car trading and aluminum manufacturing.
Subsequently, the money originating from criminal activities was reportedly invested in real estate on the southern French coast through companies registered in France.
A house, four apartments and 11 parking spaces worth over 2.5 million ($2.9 million) were seized there. A suspect was arrested in southern France.
Investigators initially could not specify the amounts of money the criminals laundered in this way or the share of shell companies in Germany. There was initially no mention of arrests in Germany.
The Camorra is one of the major Mafia organisations in Italy but is also active internationally. Naples and the Campania region are considered its stronghold.
It is not strictly hierarchical but is fragmented into many clans, some of which also fight against each other. Its activities range from drug trafficking and extortion to illegal waste management.
