False citizenships for Brazilians: municipal advisor and officials are convicted
More than 21 years in prison and a fine of 12 million euros. This was the sentence of the Italian judge Orazio Rossi for the accused of selling fake Italian citizenships. Among them are a Brazilian and three employees from the city hall of the city of Maddaloni, in the province of Caserta, in the Campania region.
The court in Santa Maria Capua Vetere sentenced the Brazilian Silas Araujo da Silva and the city hall director Giuseppe Maddaloni Cembrola to six years in prison each, and the employees to four and a half years in prison. Maravita Michele and Gaetano Mele. Furthermore, each of the four defendants was forced to pay 15 thousand euros for each of the 200 identity cards issued irregularly, totaling 12 million euros (around R$54 million), according to the court decision.
The investigation, which began about a year ago in collaboration with National Crime Agency, the United Kingdom's national crime fighting agency, revealed that the scheme allowed Brazilian citizens, almost all of whom were illegally resident in England, to carry out the process using false residence and documents, such as birth certificates of supposed ancestors of the applicants, for example.
According to the court's decision, the officer's participation was vital in generating false consular documents, which resulted in Italian citizenship. swear sanguinis (by blood) to Brazilian citizens who did not even have qualifications for recognition.
The alleged and substantiated crimes, according to the first instance court, were gang formation, illegal immigration, ideological falsehood and public corruption.
Second case in the same week
Last week, in the Piedmont region, the Italian police arrested seven Brazilians, within the scope of Operation "Super Santos," which for more than a year investigated cases of fraud in the recognition of Italian citizenship for Brazilians.
Around 800 Brazilians who obtained passports illegally are being investigated and may have their Italian citizenship revoked.
In addition to Brazilians, one priest from the diocese of Padua was also detained for having sold a false baptism certificate to confirm the Italian descent of one of those involved.
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