Petrol stations in the crosshairs of the Fiamme Gialle. In August, the Guardia di Finanza carried out checks on 2.400 road fuel systems on the days of greatest traffic, discovering 356 irregularities (15%).
Hundreds of financiers sifted through the service stations, verifying the actual quantity of fuel supplied, the quality and the correspondence between the prices indicated and those applied. The most serious violations concern 23 managers reported to the competent public prosecutors for commercial fraud. Seized 53 between columns and dispensing guns.
In two cases, in Palermo, automotive diesel was found to be watered down with low-quality chemicals: synthetic oil equal to 30% of the product, in one case and substances not suitable for automotive use in the other.
21.079 liters of petroleum products were seized in Liguria and Sicily together with the distributors, after tampering with the volumetric meters of the columns was found. In the other cases, 114 operators were fined for violating the regulations on the prices displayed, which did not correspond to what is indicated by the columns after refueling, and 18 operators for removing the seals that ensure the correct and regular functioning of the systems.
In 197 cases “the procedure for the revision of the dispensers by the Metric Office of the Chamber of Commerce was initiated – explains the Gdf – which will have to proceed with a new calibration of the systems. Fuel fraud affects not only motorists, but also state coffers. Mixing with different petroleum products, not subject to taxes and cheaper, on the one hand provides users with a poor product when not harmful to the mechanics, on the other it allows you to create hidden reserves of fuel sold separately off the books".
