45 arrested in 50m fraud

Published on Tuesday 24 April 2007 01:01

ITALIAN police have arrested 45 people accused of a 50 million fraud involving European Union subsidies for citrus farmers in the southern region of Calabria, Italian and EU officials said yesterday.

The European Anti-Fraud Office said Calabrian fruit producers and processors had received EU aid for "non-existent" oranges and other citrus fruits supposedly processed into juice and sold.

One company had "large-scale sales of juice" on its books, but investigators who went to the delivery addresses "found blocks of flats, a museum and a hardware shop", officials said.