The Hague, 29 January 2020
Commander General of the Italian Guardia di Finanza, Mr Giuseppe Zafarana, discussed existing and future cooperation with Eurojust today, during a visit to The Hague. With an increasing number of economic crime-related cases, such as carousel fraud (MTCF), being opened at Eurojust, the aim of of Mr Zafarana’s visit was to strengthen the collaboration between the Italian authorities and judicial systems across the European Union.
Mr Zafarana, who took office in 2019 as the highest in command at the Guardia di Finanza, met with Eurojust’s President Mr Ladislav Harman and Vice-President and National Member for Italy Mr Filippo Spiezia, and the Agency’s entire Italian desk. The Italian Ambassador to the Netherlands Mr Andrea Perugini participated in the visit as well.
The Commander General was introduced to the operational achievements of Eurojust and multiple services made available to national authorities through Eurojust’s recently reinforced legal framework (1727/2018 regulation). General Zafarana’s visit was the first of its kind made by a Commander General of the Guardia di Finanza to Eurojust.
Over the past years, there has been a strong increase in economic crime-related cases reported to Eurojust. The Guardia di Finanza has been actively involved in over half of the cases opened by the Italian desk at Eurojust , concerning for instance customs and VAT-fraud or drug trade and smuggling. Financial crime is often linked to other types of criminal activity, as it regularly serves money laundering purposes.
The Guardia di Finanza is one of three major national law enforcement agencies in Italy. It falls directly under the Ministry of Economy and Finance and is the primary police agency for patrolling Italy’s territorial waters, border and customs control, and for tackling financial criminality.
Photos © Eurojust. Mr Giuseppe Zafarana, Commander General of the Guardia di Finanza, with Eurojust President Mr Ladislav Hamran, Vice-President and National Member for Italy Mr Filippo Spiezia, and the Italian desk at Eurojust
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