(ANSA) – SELLIA MARINA, 21 FEB – Five people were arrested by the Carabinieri of the Sellia Marina Company (Catanzaro) on charges of having subjected some entrepreneurs who were in difficulty due to the consequences of the pandemic on their business to usury . The investigation that led to the arrests was inspired by the complaint filed in February 2020 by one of the people subjected to usury, with economic problems caused by the incidence of Covid, who had reported having received a loan with a monthly interest rate equal to 13.75% of the financed amount.
The arrests were made in execution of an order of custody in prison issued by the district magistrate of Catanzaro at the request of the DDA. For four of the arrested, who reside in Cropani and Isola Capo Rizzuto, along the Ionian belt, pre-trial detention was ordered in prison, while the fifth was granted house arrest. The alleged offenses are usury in competition, extortion and abusive exercise of financial activity, with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method. According to what has been learned later, the entrepreneurs who are victims of usury mainly carry out their activity in the trade sector and live in Cropani, a center rich in economic activities in the province of Catanzaro. At least seven entrepreneurs of commerce and other economic activities, in difficulty due to the pandemic crisis, would have been victims of the usury activity. According to the investigators, the accusation of abusive exercise of the credit contested to the arrested is to be related to the multiple credit relationships granted to commercial operators, restaurateurs, employees, artisans and small entrepreneurs, with monthly interest rates between 10% and 20% of the capital.
The aggravating circumstance of the mafia method is contested as the alleged illicit conduct would have been carried out using the intimidating force deriving from the associative bond attributable to gangs of ‘Ndrangheta and, in some cases, to facilitate the activity of one of the criminal groups organized operating on the territory. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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