The EESC described these irregularities in a complaint that it submitted to both the Bank of Italy and the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU in 2012. At this point, the EESC said, G. was due to leave anyway, and it was too late to carry out a formal dismissal. The banker then moved on to the European Commission until 2016, though that institution declined to give further details on how he got the job and under what circumstances he left.
After leaving the EESC, G. continued defrauding the Bank of Italy, claiming a further €5,445.76 in wages despite being “unjustifiably absent” from work between November 2013 and January 2014, according to the Court of Auditors. Made aware of this fraud, the bank fired him in January 2014, according to the Court.
G. was finally prosecuted in an Italian criminal court in 2017, leading to a fine and 14-month jail sentence in 2019. In a separate case, the Court of Auditors ordered that he pay back the stolen funds, but that verdict was complicated by his mysterious absence from the hearings — as well as his failure to respond to the Court’s summons, sent to the Italian embassy in Brussels. The Court had to effectively appeal its own verdict, ordering an additional attempt to contact G. via his last known addresses in Brussels and Palermo. The second round of summons went unanswered, and the verdict was upheld.
As well as facing jail time, G. must now pay €152.856,97 in restitution to the EESC, but no money to the bank, which the Court said had been able to “recover” the €81,537 owed to it independently. The bank did not comment on how it managed that.
Banker at large
The EESC tells POLITICO it’s confident it will get its money back. But in reality the verdict may have little practical effect, given G.’s absence from the legal process.
He was a ghost at his own trial, and his whereabouts remain unknown. His Brussels residency expired way back in 2017, and authorities in Palermo haven’t been able to find him at his last registered address. In the recent sentence brief, no lawyer is cited as representing him. His LinkedIn profile says he still works for the Bank of Italy, but he hasn’t been seen there for years.