The Italian government is sitting on billions of loot, all seized from the mafia.
Authorities have acquired a massive portfolio of assets and cash after seizing them from mafia members. Alongside the portfolio, however, is the problem of managing them.
Some 3,000 companies, 12,000 properties and €2bn in bank deposits and stocks are believed to now be in the possession of the Italian state. One of them is a ritzy beach resort in Sicily with beach houses for 300 tourists. Flashy vehicles are also in the portfolio.
In mid-July, a new seizure reeled in €1.6bn in property which included dozens of businesses and around 700 houses, villas, and other buildings.
In the last six years 1,286 hectares (3,178 acres) of land has been seized. During the same period, the state acquired 684 employees from confiscated businesses.
To cope with the confiscated properties, a national agency was set up in 2010, the ANSBC, to manage them. Banks frown on former mafia property and businesses, usually refusing to loan any money to them.
The government has wide-ranging power to seize assets, including preventative seizure rights if mafia involvement is suspected.
To verify the legality of a suspect’s property, authorities simply check to see if the values coincide with the owner’s publicly declared income.
Seized properties and businesses can be sold or leased, although should there be a verdict of not guilty, assets can be returned to the owner.
ANSBC has over time sold off 33 supermarkets and a shopping centre, while giving 33 trucks in its control to firefighters.
