Fraud on Pnrr funds, including former Italian skier Mair among the 23 arrested

The aim was also to obtain building bonuses

There is also the former Italian alpine skier and South Tyrolean entrepreneur Alex Mair among the 23 people reached by the precautionary measure order issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Rome, at the request of the European delegated prosecutor of the Venice Office, as part of an investigation into fraud against the European Union for funds of the Pnrr. In all, there are 73 suspects.

Mair, 53 years old originally from Colle Isarco, sHe is in prison in Bratislava, waiting to be extradited to ItalyThe former sportsman, together with a woman of Ukrainian origins officially resident in Verona, is considered one of the leaders of the criminal organization.

Mair is suspected of having been the head of an international network that allegedly stole over 600 million euros from the PNRR fund between 2021 and 2023. In his sporting career, Alex Mair achieved his best result on 6 April 1989 in the US resort of Alyeska, when he won the silver medal in super-G at the World Junior Championships.

Two years later he participated in the Senior World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, finishing the super-G race in fourteenth place. In the World Cup he only achieved disappointing results. His last race was the special slalom of the Dutch Championships in January 1996.

The operation, which began at dawn yesterday, was conducted by the command of the financial police of Venice and the Special Public Expenditure and Community Fraud Repression Unit, with the support of the Central Organized Crime Investigation Service and the Special Unit for the Protection of Privacy and Technological Fraud. Over 600 million euros were also seized preventively. The operation was also supported by the Slovak, Romanian and Austrian police forces.