Million of euros are reported to have been laundered through Malta in a particularly brazen insurance car insurance scam that has seen 18 lawyers arrested in Naples, Italian media report.
The scam involved nearly 3,000 false insurance claims, with bogus witnesses having been paid to provide false witness.
The proceeds of the crimes were then sent to a company based in Malta, where the ill-gotten gains were laundered, according to Italian prosecutors.
The fraud is also believed to have been responsible for “enormous” rising insurance premiums.
A total of 18 lawyers are being held under house arrest, and there have also been a total of 49 precautionary measures issued by the Italian authorities after an investigation by the Naples municipal police with the Guardia di Finanza revealed the vast extent of the scam.
In some of the law firms implicated, the fraudulent procedures were reportedly designed to make it to the courts, but the public prosecutor’s office yesterday said that as matters stand there is nothing to suggest the complicity of any justices.
The investigation started off after complaints were filed by other lawyers, who painted a picture of a structured organisation in which in which law firms used “professional fraudsters” who provided the false witnesses.
Many of such witnesses were, according to the investigation, recruited from the Fuorigrotta area of Naples and were paid, on average, €100 for each false testimony provided.
The investigation has so far covered just one year of insurance claims and 2,200 such claims are said to have been uncovered.
While the ill-gotten proceeds were transferred to companies set up in Malta, where the money was laundered, the names of any companies involved were not provided.
The investigation was coordinated by the prosecutors Stefano Capuano, Salvatore Prisco and Antonella Converso with the adjunct prosecutor Rosa Volpe and the prosecutor Giovanni Melillo.