How Italy is handling the business of confiscated goods
An improved management to enhance the domestic GDP
Goods confiscated to criminal organizations might represent a great resource for the country. This is what Italian authorities are thinking and experts are brainstorming to elaborate an effective management plan to deal with these resources.
Numbers provide a clear instance of how big this phenomenon is in the Bel Paese: between 2015 and 2016, 2829 real estate properties and 280 companies were confiscated and given to the National Agency. Furthermore, there are 10.329 companies throughout the state that have been confiscated but which are still active. As put in evidence by Paolo Ghezzi - General Director of Infocamere, uniting all Italian Chambers of Commerce - these companies are quite varied: 20% are active in retail, 15% in building, 10% in real estate and 9% in the manufacturing sector.
Dario Bergamo, Partner, Mediterranean Government & Public Sector Leader at EY - an organization providing integrated professional services to support entrepreneurs - declared that confiscated goods to represent a "strategic asset for our country from the juridical, social and economic point of view". The central idea is that confiscated goods should be given back to the community and work as a collective advantage.
Italy has become a virtuous example in sequestrating goods coming from illicit activities in Europe and the Italian model strength mainly relies on five qualities: great experience accumulated over the years, flexibility, independence, it is low discretionary, low vulnerability and it has a broad social scope. In spite of the great achievements so far witnessed, Italy is committed to do more in order to improve the management of these assets, representing a relevant part of the domestic GDP.
Certainly, it is required a major information exchange between the relevant authorities, as well as more transparency. To do so, an effective network between administrators, banks and societies of services should be encourages should be established and promoted as the winning card for a better management of such a significant resource.
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