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Italian police uncover 'ghost ship' oil scam

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Italian police uncover 'ghost ship' oil scam
Six people have been arrested for stealing millions of euros from the state with a fake contract to refuel a shipwrecked navy tanker. Photo: Guardia di Finanza

Italy's financial police on Monday arrested six people accused of stealing millions of euros from the state with a fake contract to refuel a shipwrecked navy tanker.

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Three navy officers were arrested for their part in the plot, which saw Italian businessmen with ties to the Rome criminal underworld supply on paper 11 million litres of oil to a military base in Augusta in Sicily for a tanker which had sunk in 2013.

The businessmen submitted a bill for over €7.0 million to the Treasury for the oil, which the navy officers signed for - with one even attesting to the quality of the product for the ship, the doomed "Victory 1".

A police statement said the money had been seized under court order, while raids were being carried out at the homes and offices of those arrested as part of the operation, code-named "Ghost Ship".

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