A nearly €80 million bankruptcy, thousands of workers with unpaid social security contributions, and a network of eleven companies, two of which are in Romania, allegedly used to drain the company's coffers before the bankruptcy. The Guardia di Finanza's major operation, launched yesterday morning in eight Italian provinces, stemmed from the bankruptcy investigation by Deputy Prosecutor Giangiacomo Pilia . Six people were placed under house arrest, while eight others are under investigation. The entire investigation revolves around the alleged multi-million dollar bankruptcy of Lavoro Migliore SpA, a staffing agency initially based in Rome and later relocated to Cagliari.
Precautionary order
Preliminary Investigations Judge Claudia Falchi Delitala ordered house arrest for Claudio Congiu (64, from Cagliari), believed to be the de facto director of several companies that participated in the alleged bankruptcy, as well as Gaetano Barone (84, from Rosignano Marittimo, province of Livorno), Antonio Corriga (60, from Cagliari), Riccardo Tosadori (51, from Quartu), Michele Spani (54, from Sant'Arcangelo, Potenza), and Dragos Constatin Silisteanu (49, from Romania). The judge also ordered Anna Franca Pintus (53, from Santadi), Mauro Pintus (40, originally from Carbonia but resident in Belluno), Marco Pintus (47, from Villaperuccio), Monica Catta (51, from Sassari), and Giovanni Franco Meloni (68, from Iglesias) to sign in. Finally, Michele Manca (34, from Santadi), Antonio Demuru (67, from Assemini), Aldo Secci (78 years old, from Talana) are under investigation at large.
The investigation
The alleged system of misappropriation of resources at the company that handled internal labor was reconstructed by the financial police of the Cagliari Economic and Financial Police Unit, led by Colonel Paolo Pettine. The investigation began with the judicial liquidation of a company specializing in the provision of temporary labor, with offices in Sardinia, Lazio, Lombardy, Marche, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Tuscany. According to investigators, since 2018, the successive directors at the helm of the company, along with the person believed to be the company's true manager, have embezzled approximately €78 million from the company's coffers. According to the prosecution, the operation was carried out with the collaboration of family members, employees, and front men through eleven satellite companies. The investigation also included Chimeco Servizi srl of Cagliari, Zeus Sistemi srl of Elmas, Zeta srl of Elmas, Sc Cos Paghe srl based in Romania, and Cmv Group Work srl. Then again the Roman companies Shalara srl and Kokunu srl, the Tiche group srl of Pomarce, the Zodiac srl of Cagliari, the M&C srl of Genzano of Rome and the Studio Chironi srl of Cagliari.
The checks
The mechanism was apparently relatively simple. Lavoro Migliore SpA, the agency, allegedly paid disproportionate salaries to the de facto director's family members and invoiced them for services never performed or re-accounted for multiple times. The money then ended up in the coffers of other companies, only to re-enter the economy as apparently regular revenue. This also led to the accusation of self-laundering. To hide the financial difficulties and delay bankruptcy, the suspects also allegedly altered the financial statements, including non-existent credits and reporting lower social security debts than actual. The workers were the ones who paid the brunt of the bankruptcy: the company allegedly accumulated debts amounting to tens of millions of euros, primarily for unpaid social security contributions to employees.