The Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police) unit in Locri has arrested two general practitioners on charges of falsifying public documents and defrauding the State. The individuals taken into house arrest are Nadia Giovanna Sorbara, 62, and Immacolata Iozzo, 67. The arrests were made pursuant to a pre-trial detention order issued by a Locri preliminary investigations judge, following a request from the local Prosecutor, Giuseppe Casciaro. The case is part of a wider investigation that has implicated 144 individuals.
The probe was launched following a complaint from a citizen. According to a press release from the Financial Police, investigations revealed an “alarming scenario” in which the arrested doctors “ruthlessly” and “freely” issued numerous sick notes to beneficiaries, predominantly agricultural laborers. These certificates attested to periods of illness, including long-term absences, and were issued as continuations of previous ones without any medical examination being performed.
Investigators described it as a “distorted exercise of the medical profession,” which allegedly allowed the recipients of the false certifications to improperly benefit from extensive absences from work and to illicitly receive corresponding sickness benefits. These benefits, paid out by the national social security institute (INPS), amounted to nearly 70,000 euros.
A third doctor, 53-year-old Alba Sorbara, is also under investigation for allegedly assisting her sister, Nadia Giovanna, in issuing some of the certificates. However, the judge rejected the prosecution’s request for her arrest.