Counterfeit money: The arrest of a man coming from Switzerland with a briefcase containing presumably false Japanese securities for 15 tln lire confirms a statement made by Tomponzi Investigations a few days ago: that European forgers work hard and often skillfully. Counterfeit treasury certificates currently circulating in Italy amount to an astonishing total of 2.5 tln lire. About 2.5 tln lire. According to reliable estimates based on data provided by Tomponzi Investigations and validated by comparison with those elaborated by the Operational Anti-Money-Forgery Nucleus (Noam &endash; Nucleo operativo antifalsificazione monetaria) of the Carabinieri and by Eurispes, this is the total value of counterfeit treasury certificates currently circulating in Italy. And there could well be even more. Less than two years ago the Attorney's Office of the Salerno District Antimafia learned of the existence of a big stock of counterfeit securities, for the almost incredible amount of 5 tln lire. 'This phenomenon &endash; explained Miriam Tomponzi &endash; has become so widespread that the Treasury, together with the Bank of Italy and the State Stationery Office, decided to issue a new and much safer treasury certificate different from the previous one and containing a special security hologram'. Inquiries by Tomponzi Investigations showed that this atypical market is run by a number of tricksters capable of introducing the false securities (printed by skilled and reckless forgers) in the legal economy circuit. 'Preferred victims of the swindlers are not only banks but also numerous incautious investors, to whom they propose deals that are as appetizing as they are improbable', says Miriam Tomponzi. 'Adopted techniques are the most disparate. As far as banking companies are concerned, false treasury certificates can be used as a guarantee for obtaining more or less substantial loans or they can be sold to the public with the complicity of corrupt officials. Since they are made out to bearer, Treasury certificates can also be used as cash in off-the-record transactions (a typical case in point being the Enimont affair, when counterfeit state securities were used to cover up obscure bribery operations), or even to pay various kinds of debt. 'But &endash; concludes Miriam Tomponzi, head of Tomponzi Investigations &endash; most of the time these criminals achieve their goals by the time-honoured technique of setting up a holding company which is then run in a fraudulent manner'. Inquiries by the Rome-based detective agency seem to suggest that many false securities pass through Switzerland before entering Italy and other European countries.