There Court of Auditors He launched an investigation into the relations between the Commissioner structure for the Covid emergency, then led by Domenico Arcuri, and some customs clearance operations from China. The center of this investigation, as reported by the newspaper The truthconcerns over a billion euros in masked masks that are not compliant, with accounting implications still to be ascertained.
Then there are a series of conversations between mediators and public officials, Acquired by the investigators, who clearly understand the pressures exerted to overcome the surveys of the customs and start the distribution of the devices despite certifications judged Dubbie.
Investigation into the masks, who has been investigated and why
But let’s start from the beginning. In 2020, in full Covid emergency, Italy entrusted substantial orders of masks to Chinese suppliers. The best known contract was the one assigned to JC Electronics & Asia, for about 800 million pieces, then canceled. Subsequently, the Court of Rome had established that the State must compensate over 203 million euros to the JC Electronics for the illegitimate cancellation of that saleswoman.
In the parliamentary hearing it emerged that the total supplies in 2020 exceeded 1.2 billion euros of masks and protection devices, for which doubts remain on safety and effective compliance with standards.
While the Court of Auditors starts its checks, the Rome prosecutor had already put his hand to the mask dossier in 2022. The criminal investigation involved, among others, the entrepreneur Mario Benotti and Antonio Fabbrocinithen the sole responsible for the procedure.
In January 2025, however, the procedure ended: The investigating judge of Rome has acquitted Domenico Arcuriexplaining that the fact is no longer a crime, after a regulatory modification introduced by the government. On the criminal level, the question stopped there. But now the accounting: The Court of Auditors will have to establish whether and how much the purchase operations have generated economic damage for the state.
What the parliamentary commission on Arcuri’s work says
The parliamentary commission of inquiry on Covid is also moving to understand what happened. Some deputies reported a 2020 document in which there was talk of strong pressures to pass masks without the required requirements. Second The truththe names of Daniele Guidi, Andrea Tommasi and Nicolas Venanziall involved in the contacts with the commissioner structure.
A chaotic picture emerges from the conversations: certificates translated quickly, pressure to unlock shipments and customs controls to be overcome at all costs. Fabrocini, then responsible for the procedure, followed everything closely, and would have asked for updates, in an attempt to look for shortcuts. The Guardia di Finanza reported that Many certifications were incomplete or not validand that the material was however passed thanks to an anonymous document.
The tone of the chats is excited, at times worried. There are those who speak openly of false certifications, those who offer improvised solutions, those who fear woe with customs. According to the investigators, instead of informing the Prosecutor, the structure would have notified only the mediators. And so, despite everything, millions of masks have entered Italy and were used by health personnel and law enforcement agencies.
