Police on Thursdayarrested four nurses at a hospital in a southern Italian town for speeding dead patients to two funeral homes. The heads of the two firms were also arrested.
Some 43 Molfetta Hospital doctors, general practitoners and health officials were placed under investigation in the probe.
The doctors, nurses, GPs and officials allegedly cut red tape to hasten corpses to the two funeral parlours, dodging an Italian law that requires bodies to lie in morgues. Investigators said the parlours paid 100-200 euros for each cadaver so as to beat rival firms.
The extra cost of the bribes was recouped by issuing invoices bearing falsely low service prices, police said. Thursday's was the second case of what the Italians call "the dear departed" in a month. Early last month in the Tuscan city of Arezzo police
busted aa funeral parlour for paying finders' fees to nurses and mortuary staff in order to be alerted as soon as patients died.
The firm paid out bribes of 50-200 euros for its mercenaries to phone in deaths while corpses were still warm, beating the competition.
There have been very similar cases in the last few years.
