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Banks in Austria were used to launder some two billion euros (2.7 billion dollars) for the Italian mafia between 2005 and 2007, the Austrian weekly profil reported Sunday citing Rome prosecutors.According to prosecution documents, the money was laundered through 14 accounts at Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Bank Austria — which now belongs to Italy’s UniCredit Group — and the Austrian branch of Anglo Irish Bank, profil said.The transfers were performed by Italian Internet provider Fastweb and Telecom Italia Sparkle (TIS), it noted.Vienna prosecutors have now also launched an investigation into allegations of money laundering, profil said.The banks refused to comment on the accusations but said they were cooperating with the authorities.According to the weekly, the three banks had themselves reported their Italian clients’ dealings to Austrian authorities.In autumn 2007, Vienna prosecutors, responding to a request from their colleagues in Rome, ordered the bank accounts to be opened but by that time, the operation’s masterminds already knew them to be unsafe, it said.According to profil, Fastweb and TIS used the Austrian accounts to transfer mafia money to a series of front companies, after taking a cut for themselves.Last month, prosecutors in Rome sought the arrest of 56 people, including Fastweb founder Silvio Scaglia in a major money laundering and tax fraud case.
Fastweb and TIS — controlled by Telecom Italia — are suspected of billing non-existent Internet and telephone services worth 1.8 billion euros, thus evading 365 million euros (495 million dollars) in taxes.