Citizenship income unduly pocketed, € 817 thousand seized

They received citizenship income in an undue way. The financiers of the Provincial Command of Messina have implemented the preventive seizure decree “of the sums unduly received, equal to approximately 817 thousand euros, by 110 foreign citizens not entitled to the benefit of citizenship income”. The provision, issued by the Judge of Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Messina, on the proposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the city of the Strait, arises from the in-depth investigations of the Economic and Financial Police carried out by the Fiamme Gialle of the Messina Group, as part of the activities aimed at monitoring , to control and supervision in the field of Subsidized Social Benefits. In particular, the financiers examined an audience of over 2,000 “Messina” foreigners, of non-EU and EU origin, who appeared to have requested and received the benefit in question: mostly Romanian, Nigerian, Moroccan, Sri Lankan citizens, but also of the most varied nationality, other European countries and even from Latin America and Arab countries. “In this regard, as is known, the Citizenship Income is recognized to households who, at the time of submitting the application and for the entire duration of the benefit, are in possession of the requisites of citizenship, residence and stay, income and assets – the financiers say – Following detailed analyzes and cross-referencing between the data communicated by the beneficiaries in the Single Substitute Declarations (DSU) with those emerging from the databases used by the Guardia di Finanza, discrepancies emerged in relation to the possession of the indicated requirements, with particular reference to that of residence “. And again:” More precisely, given that in order to obtain the benefit in question it is necessary for the applicant to have, at the time of submitting the application, residence in the territory of the State for at least 10 years, of which the last two on a continuous basis, the data relating to the residence of the applicants were cross-referenced with that i relating to the date of entry into the national territory and the issue of any residence permit. This activity therefore made it possible to identify as many as 110 foreigners who, when submitting the application, contrary to the truth, declared that they possessed the aforementioned requisite, thus obtaining the benefit unduly. Some of them, between 2019 and 2021, would even have received sums exceeding 29 thousand euros “. Therefore, at the outcome of the analyzes conducted, the competent Judge of the Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Messina, accepting the proposal of the local Public Prosecutor’s Office , ordered the seizure of sums unduly received, for the offenses envisaged for the illegitimate collection of the Citizenship Income which, in the most serious cases, provides for imprisonment from 2 to 6 years. by now consolidated collaboration and info-operational synergy with the INPS of Messina, which has quickly made available to the Department of the Operating Corps all the elements necessary to carry out the appropriate investigations, also in light of the recent Memorandum of Understanding stipulated between the Sicily Regional Command of the Guardia di Finanza and the INPS Sicily Regional Directorate. The operation conducted by the Messina Fiamme Gialle, in full synergy of intent with the Messina Judicial Authority, “testifies to the continuous commitment of the Guardia di Finanza to protect the economy, also in consideration of the current moment the country is going through, linked to the ongoing epidemiological emergency, which needs, above all now, a careful and prudent use of public resources “, say the Fiamme Gialle.