The funding of Italy's school fruit scheme has been thrust into the spotlight by Italian fraud investigators after police in Italy reportedly arrested 11 members of the country's Ministry of Agriculture (Mipaaf), including former Italian agriculture ministers Luca Zaia and Giancarlo Galan, on suspicion of corruption.

Eurofruit reports that the group of employees, understood to be made up of managers and officials, were arrested as part of Operation Centurion and face charges of abusing their office, obstructing public tender processes and obtructing the system used for selection of contractors.

As part of an investigation that saw members of Italy's fraud squad the Guardia di Finanza interviewed 37 Mipaaf members of staff including 13 senior managers, cash and assets worth more than €22m were also seized.

The alleged corruption charges apparently relate to government subsidies worth a total of €32m, which the police suspect were allocated fraudulently to contractors in return for bribes during the period March 2007-May 2011.

Frutta nelle scuole, a national project granted €13m by Mipaaf over the period concerned to distribute free fruit in schools and encourage children to eat more fresh produce, was named by police as one of the allegedly fraudulent funding contracts.

Similarly, around €3.8m in funds allocated to Food4U, an initiative aimed at boosting awareness of healthy eating, have also been placed under investigation.

Among those arrested, according to newspapers La Repubblica and Italian Oggi, were Giuseppe Ambrosio, Mipaaf's director general of research and development; Franco Braga, head of the Secretariat's office; and Stefania Ricciardi, Ambrosio's wife and manager of the ministry's agricultural marketing office.

Also among the 11, according to Italia Oggi, were Alfredo Bernadini, director of farming body Cia, and Ludovico Gay, general director of Buonitalia, the promotional company set up by Zaia in 2008 to promote Italy's food exports.

Buonitalia, which was wound up by Galan in 2010, is rumoured to have spent around €20m-€22m over the course of its two-year existence.

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