The Prevention Measures Section of the Court of Milan has ordered the judicial administration of a Milanese investment bank, Banca Progetto, for having granted loans for over 10 million euros , as ascertained by the investigations of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Gdf and the prosecutor Paolo Storari, to companies linked to the 'ndrangheta .
It is specified that these are loans guaranteed by the fund for small and medium-sized enterprises, therefore "state aid to support the economy in the Covid emergency" or "following Russia's aggression against Ukraine" .
The analysis of the "bank files", as stated in a note from the Milan prosecutor Marcello Viola, "has made it possible to ascertain how the intermediary", namely Banca Progetto, "often evading the principles of anti-money laundering legislation, has provided loans backed by a state guarantee in favour of companies fully involved in criminal dynamics , as they were the object of the contestation of the crime of fraudulent transfer of assets, in some cases committed with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method, consisting in the facilitation of the 'ndrangheta 'locale' of Legnano/Lonate Pozzolo", province of Varese.
The "opaque and questionable" "modus operandi" of Banca Progetto spa has in fact "transferred the risk of insolvency, which actually occurred, onto the State", by financing companies linked to the 'ndrangheta with state-guaranteed funds, and has determined "the paradox that the money flowing into the coffers of the criminal gang appears to be of state origin" .
Banca Progetto, a digital bank led by CEO Paolo Fiorentino, is controlled by the American Oaktree, which however signed an agreement in September to sell its 99.82% to funds managed by Centerbridge Partners.
Emblematic according to the judges of Milan is a statement made last March 14 by Maurizio Ponzoni, believed to be close to a 'ndrangheta clan and who allegedly obtained the 10 million through companies linked to him. «In my opinion, if Banca Progetto took my name and surname, it would have made a ... it would have said 'let's leave everything alone'» .
For those loans, "the granting mechanism" was always the same. It was Ponzoni himself who related "directly" with the bank officials. He, among other things, formally had "nothing" to do with the financed companies and, therefore, the officials were "very clear that the true referent-recipient" of the loans was him. And in any case they did not "activate any checks on his person" . A "simple consultation" from "open sources" would have been enough, as Ponzoni himself said, also because the media had "widely" spoken of his arrest in March 2023.
(Online Union)
