Appeal reduces Francesco Becchetti's prison sentence to 5 years , Italian businessman sentenced to 12 years in prison
The Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction has reduced the 5-year prison sentence of Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti, ultimately sentencing him to 12 years out of 17.
The reduction of the sentence by the Appeal was granted based on the application of Article 55, which provides for the merging of sentences into a single one.
The other defendant in this trial, Mouro de Renzis, was ultimately sentenced to 12 years in prison, out of 16 years in prison that the Tirana Court of First Instance sentenced him to.
Meanwhile, the sentence for Eriona Troplinin and Liliana Condimitti, sentenced to 8 years in prison each, was upheld.
Francesco Becchetti has been found guilty of creating a VAT fraud scheme and money laundering.
He was charged with 4 criminal offenses; “ Theft by abuse of office”, “Laundering of proceeds of crime or criminal activity”, “Forgery of documents”, “Creation of fraudulent schemes related to value added tax ”.
The appeal trial against Becchetti has been dragging on for some time. As of January 2024, the appeal hearing had been postponed 20 times.