Malta consul to Palermo accused of money laundering

The municipal prosecutor of Palermo has closed an investigation into Malta’s consul general to Palermo, Trapani and Agrigento – Alfredo Barbaro – who is to be charged with aggravated financial misappropriation, money laundering and other financial breaches totalling to €20 million in evaded tax.

Barbarbo and members of his family, Giovanni, Pietro and Federico Barbaro, have already paid back €8 million of the contested monies.

According to LaSicilia.com, two Dutch middlemen would send false invoices for the purchase of goods and consultancies to companies in Poland, Italy, Finland, Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg; these companies would use these invoices to falsely claim they were accumulating individual costs and in some cases taking back VAT rebates for purchases that were never made.

The money, through offshore companies, would end up in tax haven accounts in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas.

Through other middlemen, the money would be brought back to ‘secure’ European locations like Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland, and laundered through investments in new companies.

The Dutch middlemen earned a percentage of the tax evaded. In Palermo alone, the Barbaro family amassed €20 million in evaded tax money.