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Arcuri has been replaced by army general Francesco Paolo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.
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