Italian probe into Chinese-made COVID-19 masks reveals alleged fraud

Italy’s COVID‑19 parliamentary commission has opened an investigation into a €1.25 billion contract that authorised the purchase of roughly 800 million FFP2 masks from Chinese manufacturer Anhui Zhongnan. The commission says many of the masks were not certified, citing an Irish customs alert that the CE certificate for the supplier had been revoked after the product tested differed from the original model.

The inquiry points to possible price inflation and profit‑making, with the contract valued at about €30 million for the Chinese‑supplied portion alone. Politicians, including former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, are being questioned over their knowledge of the procurement and the alleged irregularities in the tendering process. The investigation aims to determine whether negligence or deliberate wrongdoing contributed to the distribution of substandard protective equipment during the pandemic.