By Martin Banks - 4th June 2007
The decision to keep two Italian officials at the centre of a major EU fraud probe in prison has been branded “excessive.”
Sergio Tricarico, a European parliament assistant, Giancarlo Ciotti, a commission official, and Angelo Troiano, a Belgian businessman, were arrested on 27 March after a coordinated set of 40 dawn raids in four countries involving more than 150 police.
They face charges over a multi-million euro fraud that has scandalised the EU.
The businessman is alleged to have paid bribes to obtain contracts to find premises and provide security and equipment to commission embassies outside the EU delegations to international institutions.
The Belgian court of first instance released Troiano three weeks ago but the other two men are still in prison.
That prompted Belgian lawyer Henri Laquay, who has represented Tricarico, to launch a withering attack on the Belgian authorities.
“They are supposedly being held in what is called ‘protective custody’ but you have to question the reason for this,” he said.
“I would have thought that keeping these men in custody for so long, in spite of various bail applications, is excessive.”
The two men are due to next appear before the court on 15 June, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor, when they are again expected to apply for bail.
The spokesman declined to comment on the reasons for their continued detention and said inquiries were continuing.
Tricarico works as an assistant for Italian MEP and former football star Gianni Rivera. The official has denied the charges against him and Rivera is not under suspicion.
Ciotti is a middle-ranking 46-year-old civil servant who is responsible for training for external delegations.
All three are accused of forgery, fraud, bribery and criminal association.
Meanwhile, Belgian and EU anti-fraud officers have begun an investigation into allegations that EU civil servants faked contracts with cleaners to pocket EU funds.
The anti-fraud office, OLAF, and the prosecutor’s office are conducting the probe into the claims.
Belgian media reported that commission employees had drafted fake contracts with a Belgian cleaning contractor to siphon off money.
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