Palermo, 13 June (LaPresse) – The financial police, coordinated by the Palermo Public Prosecutor's Office, last night carried out ten precautionary measures (three house arrests, disqualifications, compulsory residence or reporting to the judicial police) issued by the Palermo investigating magistrate against ten individuals under investigation on various counts of corruption, disruption of public auctions, obstruction of freedom in the contractor selection process, and issuing and using invoices for non-existent transactions. The investigations conducted by the Economic and Financial Police Unit shed light on cases of malfeasance connected with the tendering and management of contracts worth a total of over €130 million awarded by some of the main healthcare facilities in the region. The evidence gathered, in particular, highlighted the involvement of public managers, entrepreneurs, professionals and fixers in the illegal schemes reconstructed. They allegedly acted in concert to steer the tender procedures in favour of certain companies. Multiple initiatives and expedients were put in place to achieve this result. These included providing confidential documentation on tenders yet to be announced to the representatives of the companies to be favoured, “constructing” ad hoc specifications based on information received from the same interlocutors, and even cancelling tenders that were not to the liking of the same companies. In return, public officials were allegedly given and promised bribes of significant amounts linked to the value of the contracts and, in some cases, disguised as consultancy agreements, as well as other benefits, including the hiring of close family members.