A case in southern Italy involving 17 people placed under investigation for alleged fraud worth 6 million euros for migrants has been shelved after seven years.

The funds were intended for migrants hosted in the town of Caserta as part of the national SPRAR (now called SAI) system for hosting asylum seekers.

The prosecutor's office itself requested the shelving of the case, with those who had been placed under investigation including the heads of the former social center Ex Canapificio, officials from the town council, and other people active in associations including the Sister Rita Giarretta.

The Catholic nun has for years been involved in rescuing women in difficult situations including prostitutes.

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Ex Canapificio directors call it a 'political case'

"We are proud of the case being shelved. We knew we were innocent, and it was clearly a case for political ends," said the heads of the social center in an October 23 press conference.

The inquiry into alleged criminal association was used for political ends over the course of the seven years during which the investigation continued as well as an aggressive media campaign against the activities of the social center, which at that time was managing the hosting of the asylum seekers as part of the SPRAR system and which then lost the management after the investigation and was evicted from historic buildings in which it was located in at that time.

Italy's current transportation minister Matteo Salvini -- at the time interior minister and thus overseeing SPRAR funding, had several times spoken out against the Ex Canapificio. According to three members of the defense team of the 17 former defendants, it was an "investigation filled with contrivances, errors, and misunderstandings, in which resources were used as if the fraud of the century was being revealed or as if organized crime was being probed. It is above all clear that it was of a political origin that began in part thanks to the statements made by Minister Salvini, attached to the court records as corroboration of the charges."

The investigation, which began in October 2018, included two lines of questioning that were later brought together into a single file. The first was from a report made by a former worker at the Ex Canapificio social center who had previously been accused by the center's directors of having stolen some of the goods earmarked for migrants.

The former worker claimed possible extortion in relation to a solidarity fund created by the directors of the center, who he said obligated other associates to give sums of money: this was denied by the associates during the inquiry.

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Probe after social center clashed with Salvini

The second line of questioning, of a more significant nature, was into alleged fraud regarding funds allocated for migrants.

The case was opened in the same period, after reported clashes between the social center and Salvini.

The problems were sparked by a June 2018 incident in Caserta when two asylum seekers hosted in the SPRAR managed by the Ex Canapificio center were hit by balls thrown by passengers in a car yelling "Salvini! Salvini!".

The center reported the incident and held a press conference."That public money is being managed by those occupying premises is bizarre," Salvini, who was interior minister at the time, responded during a television program in reference to the historic buildings in which the center was located.

However, the center was not "occupied" or squatted, as it had a contract for using the building.

Salvini's statements were reported also by other media outlets and a few weeks later the investigation into alleged fraud began.

"It is not a coincidence,' the lawyers said, that the case "led to the suspension of SPRAR funds to the Ex Canapificio and the seizure for structural reasons of the building the social center was in."

In February 2019, they added, "a massive search was carried out with 80 carabinieri and two helicopters. However, nothing [incriminating, Ed.] was found in the homes of those under investigation. Meanwhile, political attacks continued from parts of the center-right politicial establishment. In September 2019 the case ended up being put on hold and then was taken up again five years later in September 2024, when there was a new prosecutor."

Lawyers for the defense concluded: "The prosecutor's office finally listened to us understanding that there was no" actual basis for the charges.

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