Italian Phone Companies, the Calabrian Mafia and Panama

Two of Italy’s most prominent telecom companies, the Calabrian Mafia and now Panama to a certain extent are all caught up in one of the biggest cases of fraud in the history of Italy.

The scandal centers around a $2.7 billion fraud in which non-existent international telephone services were sold and purchased.  Fifty-six people have been accused of participating including Silvio Scaglia, a former CEO of mobile-phone operator Omnitel and founder of Fastweb; former Telecom Italia Sparkle CEO Stefano Mazzitelli; and Nicola Di Girolamo, a senator with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party, who represents Italians abroad.

Suspects are being sought in Italy, Britain, Switzerland and Panama for using ghost companies to carry out fake transactions, anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said.

The operation is thought to have been orchestrated by members of the notorious Calabrian Mafia, and money was laundered in such places as Panama, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Switzerland, San Marino, Vienna and London.