Three Italians arrested in connection with a European Union kickback probe now face additional charges of money laundering, judicial officials in Brussels said on Thursday.
Jos Colpin, the spokesman of Brussels public prosecutor Berta Bernardo-Mendez, said the three suspects - who include an EC official and the assistant of an MEP - were accused of money laundering as well as corruption, fraud, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breaching public tender laws.
Commission functionary Giancarlo Ciotti, 46, European parliamentary assistant Sergio Tricarico, 39, and businessman Angelo Troiano, 60, were arrested on Wednesday in Brussels.
Colpin said the three, who are all resident in Brussels, were suspected of defrauding European taxpayers of several million euros over a period going back more than ten years.
The probe centres on tenders for European Commission offices abroad and contracts for supplying these buildings with security systems.
Ciotti is suspected of pocketing bribes from real estate and security companies in return for the assignment of contracts to rent, equip and secure EC buildings, in India and Albania in particular.
"It was a matter of not following the rules of public tenders which made it possible to favour certain firms which were obliged to pay bribes to those who organised the fraud," Colpin said after the arrests.
He said it appeared to be a "very big case of corruption" and that Italy was the suspected "epicentre".
EC offices in Brussels and banks, homes and private offices in Italy, France and Luxembourg were searched on Tuesday in an operation involving more than 150 police officers.
The investigation began in July 2004 when the EC received a complaint from an unsuccessful bidder in a tender procedure.
The commission immediately notified its anti-fraud agency OLAF.
Tricarico is an assistant to MEP Gianni Rivera, a former soccer star turned politician. Prior to that, Tricarico worked for Franco Marini, who is now Italy's Senate speaker.
Rivera said on Wednesday said he was "stunned" by Tricarico's arrest and had "never noticed anything suspicious" about his behaviour.
Troiano is a real estate agent and owner of several private security installation and supply firms.
Media reports, meanwhile, spotlighted alleged anomalies associated with the EC building in Tirana.
Used to house EC delegations, the building is situated on the outskirts of the Albanian capital and is owned by a private company, one of whose partners is an Italian businessman based in Potenza.
The media reported that the building cost the EC 40-50,000 euros a month to rent - much more than the market price for properties in the centre of the capital.
The EC budget for commission delegations' buildings abroad stands at around 56 million euros for 2007.
The Italian foreign ministry said on Thursday that it was "looking into the judicial position" of the three arrested Italians and would "ensure they are guaranteed all their defence rights".
Judicial sources close to the probe said it could widen and that more arrests were possible.
