Ex Ilva, fraud against the State: ten people under investigation from the old management

Ex Ilva, fraud against the State: ten people under investigation from the old management for falsification of data relating to CO2 emissions

The Guardia di Finanza of Bari is executing a personal and local search warrant issued by the Taranto Prosecutor’s Office against 10 people in the provinces of Taranto, Bari, Milan, Monza-Brianza and Modena (directors, attorneys, employees and collaborators pro tempore of Acciaierie d’Italia, a company currently in extraordinary administration that manages the former Ilva plant in Taranto). They are being investigated for the crime of defrauding the State. The investigations revealed an “artificial manipulation of data relating to CO2 emissions attributable to the activities of AdI spa and carried out prior to the company being placed under extraordinary administration”, the latter starting last February with the appointment of the commissioners by Mimit. The previous management of the company saw, instead, ArcelorMittal, a multinational steel company, as the majority shareholder of AdI, with Lucia Morselli as CEO.

The investigations have made it possible to detect, in relation to the return of the CO2 quotas “consumed” in the year 2022 and the assignment of those free of charge for the year 2023, various irregularities committed by Acciaierie d’Italia. In particular, the company, according to the investigations, allegedly “certified in the monitoring and reporting plan to the ETS (Emission Trading System) Committee false quantities of consumption of raw materials (fossil, gas, etc.), finished and semi-finished products and related stocks, thus altering the reference parameters (“emission factor” and “activity level”)”. It also allegedly “declared to the EU ETS (European Emission Trading System) register a number of CO2 quotas lower than that actually emitted, misleading the Ministerial Committee, which decided to assign free of charge to the former Ilva plant in Taranto, for the year 2023, an amount of quotas higher than that actually due”.

“Through such conduct – declares the GdF – the defendants allegedly procured an unfair profit for ADI SpA consisting on the one hand in a saving in costs, achieved through the restitution to the State –and, specifically, to the Ministerial Committee – of CO2 quotas lower than what the company should have returned; on the other hand in the higher revenues determined by the recognition of free CO2 quotas in excess with equal damage of the primary market of the “public auctions” of the State”. “The investigative findings in progress – specifies the Finance – are aimed at finding further evidence useful for the continuation of the investigations, with particular reference to the administrative and accounting documentation functional to the timely reconstruction of the procedures under examination, as well as to the exact quantification of the quotas actually”. The European system in question provides for the “Emissions Trading (EU ETS)”.

It is established by Directive 2003/87/EC (ETS Directive), which is the main instrument adopted by the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in energy-intensive sectors following the signing of the Kyoto Protocol. The system, it is noted, is essentially based on a cap mechanism that sets a maximum ceiling on the overall level of emissions allowed to all bound parties, allowing participants to buy and sell on the market rights to emit CO2 (quotas) according to their needs while respecting the established limit. The mechanism aims to keep the prices of the securities high to discourage demand and, therefore, induce European companies to pollute less.