Law enforcement authorities in Italy have frozen €17.2 million as part of an investigation involving 48 "farmers" suspected of criminal association to defraud EU agricultural funds.

The action from the Italian authorities came at the request of the European Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO), which said that the suspects are believed to have set up a fraud scheme to obtain over €20 million between 2017 and 2022.

According to the EPPO, its investigation exposed a fraudulent system created by an organised group, headed by two of the suspects, to unduly obtain monies from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, which funds Pillar I of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The suspects tried to get around the limits imposed by the CAP, which set a maximum annual limit for each applicant at €500,000.

To achieve this, they distributed the assets of an agricultural company based in the province of Padua between 12 'shell' companies located in several other regions of Italy, according to the EPPO.

The investigation also uncovered a fraudulent scheme designed to allegedly bypass the national ban on grazing carried out by third parties, which was introduced in 2015 in order to ensure that only those directly involved in agricultural work could access public money.

The EPPO said that, based on the evidence, several persons from northern Italy entered into agreements with the organisers of the scheme to obtain land, livestock and stables, thereby creating the appearance of legitimate farming operations.

However, the EPPO said that, based on the evidence, the companies applying for financial support did not carry out any actual grazing activities. These were instead managed by the leaders of the fraud, who maintained effective control over the operations.

In order to compensate damage to the EU budget, the judge for preliminary investigations in the Court of Padua issued a freezing order of €17.2 milion.

The Italian financial police in Padua seized plots of land, apartments and villas, and froze bank accounts. In addition, 8,590 basic payment entitlements under CAP were seized, totaling €4 million.

The alleged fraudsters were also reported for financial damages to the Italian state amounting to €32.1 million resulting from the fraudulent conduct.

The EPPO stressed that all persons involved are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the relevant Italian court of law.