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This morning, officers from the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Catanzaro and the Anti-Adulteration and Health Unit (NAS) of the Carabinieri executed the order issued by the Preliminary Investigations Judge (G.I.P.) at the Court of Catanzaro, at the request of the local Prosecutor's Office, applying 13 personal precautionary measures and 9 real precautionary measures against 14 suspects, variously charged with the crimes of criminal association, aggravated fraud against the State, unauthorized access to computer or telematic systems, material forgery committed by a public official in certificates or administrative authorizations, embezzlement, false certification of presence at work, issuing and using invoices for non-existent operations, money laundering, and self-laundering.
Specifically, for 5 medical directors, 3 nurses, and 2 employees of the ALPI Office (in-house private professional activity) of the A.O.U. “Renato Dulbecco”, as well as for an entrepreneur operating in the medical device sales sector, house arrest was ordered; for a former medical director of the A.O.U. “Renato Dulbecco” for acts committed while still in service, the non-custodial measure of the obligation to report to the judicial police was applied; for another medical director, the non-custodial precautionary measure of prohibition of residence in the municipality of Catanzaro was applied.
With the same order, the Judge ordered the seizure of approximately one million euros in total from 8 medical directors and an entrepreneur, as it was considered the profit from some of the alleged crimes.
The complex investigations—carried out by the Economic-Financial Police Unit/Public Spending Protection Group of the Guardia di Finanza of Catanzaro and the NAS of the Carabinieri of Catanzaro, which also included wiretapping and searches—revealed that 8 medical directors of the A.O.U. “Renato Dulbecco”, with the complicity of the ALPI office, systematically carried out, over the years, expanded intramural activities (i.e., at private offices located outside hospital premises) in violation of sector regulations, managing visits independently, collecting payment from patients—strictly in cash—for the services provided, and paying only a minimal part into the accounts of the hospital company to which they belonged, thus disguising the illegality of their conduct.
This mechanism was made possible by the systematic and “organized” contribution of the two officials and the manager (now retired) of the ALPI office, who, fully aware of the illegal activities carried out by the professionals, provided concrete help to achieve the criminal aims, both by accessing the hospital's computer system to register, ex post, with fictitious dates, the few visits that were “regularized” by the professionals, and by directly referring patients wishing to use intramural health services to these professionals.
In some cases, it was found that the doctors carried out intramural activities, again with the complicity of ALPI office members, during regular working hours, thus contributing to the failure to reduce waiting lists, which are notoriously extremely long.
Furthermore, it was found that two of the doctors involved systematically used, in carrying out their illegal intramural activities, nurses employed by their hospital company, who were found to be fully involved in the illegal activity, facilitating it with specific independent actions, such as, for example, collecting cash from patients for the health services provided by the professionals.
Investigators also found that one of these medical directors had, over time, also performed unauthorized cataract surgeries, both at a private clinic—whose administrators were well aware of the illegality of the doctor's conduct, who was bound by an exclusivity agreement with A.O.U. Dulbecco—and at his private office. For these operations, when patients requested an invoice, he had it issued by accomplices in the ALPI office, having them report, however, a different service, since surgical operations could not have been performed under the intramural regime. Furthermore, the same medical director—already subject to a precautionary order in January 2024—with the complicity of two nurses employed by his own company and a businessman from Cosenza, also subject to the aforementioned order, systematically used—as did another of the medical directors involved—part of the money considered proceeds of crime in his professional activity, mostly through a sophisticated system of issuing invoices for non-existent operations. The two corporations that enabled the doctor to perpetrate fraud against his hospital company and, in one case, also to reinvest the proceeds of criminal activity, are currently under investigation for administrative liability of entities arising from a crime, pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 231/2001.
Given the evidence collected, it was possible to hypothesize, for 6 of the medical directors involved, the existence of an associative bond linking them with the members of the ALPI office, as well as with the nurses they used to carry out the expanded intramural professional activity. Finally, it emerged that one of the medical directors, former director of the ALPI office of the A.O.U. “Renato Dulbecco”, who currently works as a Doping Control Officer and Blood Control Officer for the Italian Sports Medical Federation, on as many as 46 occasions, produced entirely fictitious documentation (invoices for meals, hotels, and travel expenses) in order to obtain undue reimbursements from the aforementioned Federation. Similarly, on numerous occasions, he falsely certified his presence at work, thus obtaining an unjust profit.
The activity carried out demonstrates the constant oversight provided by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Catanzaro, the Guardia di Finanza, and the Carabinieri in protecting public spending, with particular regard to the health sector, aimed at suppressing the most sophisticated forms of illegal management of public resources and fraud against the State, ensuring that what citizens pay in taxes returns to the community through efficient services.
It should be noted that the criminal investigations are currently in the preliminary investigation phase and require subsequent judicial verification in adversarial proceedings with the defense.