TRIESTE – The Guardia di Finanza is executing an emergency preventive seizure order issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trapani, amounting to more than €100 million against Liberty Lines.
The measure concerns the company’s entire business assets and shareholdings. Liberty Lines operates mainly high-speed passenger services linking Sicily with its smaller islands (the Aeolian, Egadi, Pelagie, Pantelleria and Ustica archipelagos).
The seizure has been ordered as the alleged proceeds of fraud against the State, corruption and fraud in the performance of a public service, attributed to individuals linked to the company’s governance, ownership structure, management and senior staff.
Liberty Lines had operated in past years— and for two months in 2025 — the maritime services from Trieste to Istria and as far as the island of Lošinj, after being awarded the contract by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. The three-year contract, worth €4.5 million, provides for regular sailings departing from Trieste’s Molo IV.
The company is now accused of unlawfully increasing its profits by receiving substantial State subsidies despite failing to comply with the transport conditions set out in the public contract, in particular regarding the safety procedures and protocols required by law.
The investigation, coordinated by the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office, involved a lengthy analysis by the Guardia di Finanza of a vast amount of data and information, as well as highly technical documents such as tender specifications and financial statements.
“Given the complexity, strategic importance and public relevance of the company’s activities, which serve the community, the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office has appointed a board of judicial administrators — two chartered accountants and a lawyer — in order to restore lawful conditions while ensuring business continuity and the maintenance of public transport services to the smaller islands, alongside the essential safety requirements for passengers and full protection of employment levels,” reads a statement from the Guardia di Finanza.
The investigation — which is believed to involve around fifty individuals — and the seizure order have also prompted a statement from Liberty Lines’ legal counsel. The lawyers argue that the seizure order was issued by the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office “without any grounds of urgency and without the other requirements that would have justified its adoption”.
