Bank of Italy freezes Russian funds for 2 billion: current accounts, yachts and villas. Lighthouse on Pnrr money flown abroad

Two billion of frozen assets to Russian and Belarusian subjects and a light on the diversion of Pnrr funds that some companies would have taken abroad. These are the main aspects that emerge from the annual report of the Bank of Italy’s Financial Intelligence Unit led by Enzo Serata.

In particular, we read that since the start of the Russian military attack on Ukraine, the UIF has collected data on the deposits of Russian and Belarusian citizens and information on the existence of assets and economic resources subject to freezing constraints. In the middle of last month, 170 financial relationships in the name of 80 Russian subjects were frozen, more than half of which were indirectly owned or controlled by designated names, even if formally in the name of companies and entities not expressly included in the EU lists. «The total amount of the frozen funds – we read – was more than 330 million euros». A figure that rises to around two billion euros if villas, yachts and luxury cars are added.

«The military aggression against Ukraine has led to the adoption of a plurality of interventions by international bodies and European institutions aimed at tightening the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation and Belarus. During 2022, the European Union progressively expanded the list of natural persons subject to freezing measures and significantly extended the commercial and financial restrictions, as well as the related reporting obligations,” Serata said in his report, underlining that the “amounts of freezes of funds and economic resources communicated by operators to the UIF have consequently recorded a significant increase compared to the end of 2021, entirely attributable to the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation.

On the domestic front, however, the UIF has identified “networks of companies which have unduly benefited from subsidized loans” linked to the Pnrr “or which have misused the resources provided, frequently transferred abroad”. In particular, the director Serata noted that there is a “recurring presence of professional figures who, by assisting companies in the phases of access to concessions, play a crucial role in the network, facilitating illegal conduct on behalf of common beneficial owners”.