3 arrested over facemask supply fraud

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 3 - Italian police on Wednesday arrested three people in Rome in a robe into suspected fraud in the supply of COVID facemasks in Italy.
    The three - Andelko Aleksic, former media businessman Vittorio Farina, and Domenico Romeo - are accused of fraud in the public supply of five million facemasks and 430,000 surgical gowns to the civil protection department in Lazio around Rome.
    Police seized almost 32 million euros in assets from the three, who were placed under house arrest.
    They are accused of importing unauthorized facemasks from China.
    Aleksic and Farina are also accused of influence peddling.
    Farina allegedly got in touch with then COVID emergency commissioner Domenico Arcuri, who is not under investigation.
    Arcuri has been replaced by army general Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, who has been tasked with speeding Italy's vaccine rollout. (ANSA).