A series of frauds in the management of contracts, underpaid staff and deprived of the necessary qualifications: all, according to the accusations of the investigators, to use public funds for expenses such as travel, lunches, luxury car rentals and the purchase of precious objects. This is what emerged from the investigation by the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza started in 2021 from an anonymous complaint, on alleged irregularities in the management of some funds in the Municipalities of Parteolla. The investigators' sights are on the social cooperative Laurus, based in via San Benedetto in Cagliari, very active in work collaborations with various administrations. This first part of the investigations ended with the seizure of one million and 700 thousand euros from the four suspects accused of fraud against the State, aggravated fraud for the obtaining of public grants and self-laundering. These are the president of the cooperative, Alessandro Cara (53 years old from Quartu), his wife Maria Grazia Meloni (52), administrator of the company, and the councilors Simona Marras (52, from Cagliari) and Ivo Meloni (50, from Quartu).

The heritage

The Carabinieri of the provincial command's investigative unit and their colleagues from the Dolianova company, together with the personnel of the Guardia di Finanza's Economic and Financial Police Unit, went into action on Tuesday, continuing the seizure activities, ordered by the decree issued by the investigating judge, also yesterday. 24 valuable watches (including an Audemars Piguet worth over 50 thousand euros), 125 thousand euros, 23 bags of the major brands and 13 jewels were recovered from the Cara couple. Just under 29 thousand euros were seized from Meloni. Yesterday, other assets were seized, reaching the figure of one million and 791 thousand euros. The four suspects are defended by the lawyers Francesco Marongiu (Cara), Pierluigi Concas (Maria Grazia Meloni), Herika Dessì (for Marras and Ivo Meloni). Gianmarco Concas protects the Laurus cooperative.

The technique

In the reconstruction made by the investigators, and supported by the Prosecutor's Office, Laurus would have won tenders (for a total of ten million euros) for social and educational services in various municipalities, presenting itself as a social cooperative with prevalent mutuality despite being a for-profit company and devoid of any mutualistic purpose. Invoices would also have been issued for non-existent operations while the staff would have been underpaid and deprived of the qualifications necessary to carry out the various activities. And a part of these public funds would have been used for personal expenses defined by the investigators as "luxury".

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