Italy’s tax police search EY offices over alleged bid rigging, sources say

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MILAN (Reuters) – Italian tax police have searched Ernst & Young offices in Milan and Rome in an investigation into alleged rigging of bids for contracts funded by the European Union, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

The searches conducted on Monday form part of a probe led by the Milan bureau of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and concern a number of consultancy contracts awarded by the Lombardy Region in northern Italy to EY and supported by the EU, according to the sources.

Neither the Lombardy Region nor EY as a company are under investigation in the inquiry, the sources said. EY did not respond to requests for comment, while the Lombardy Region had no immediate comment.

Guardia di Finanza police also went to the region’s offices in Milan to obtain documentation on the contracts at the centre of the probe in which six local EY officials are under investigation, the sources said.

The EPPO is acting on the suspicion that EY provided the regional offices with unreliable data on its bidding credentials, one of the sources added.