In 2023, Irfis-FinSicilia — the financial company fully controlled by the Sicilian Region — managed approximately 600 million euros in public funds. At the same time, the same Region claimed it lacked resources to meet the 97,000 requests for poverty income submitted by Sicilian families: it would take 250 million euros, but only 30 are available.
Where is all the money going?
Irfis Internal Expenses: Numbers That Speak for Themselves
According to official 2023 data, Irfis incurred:
- €5,723,700 for permanent staff salaries
- €277,930 for fixed-term staff
- €170,000 for the General Director, Calogero Guagliano
The President of Irfis, Iolanda Riolo, receives €35,000 annually for her role. However, in 2017 she declared a personal income of €327,995 as an entrepreneur in the automotive sector, managing dealerships for brands like Audi, Toyota, Volvo, Opel, Mercedes, Smart, and Ducati with over 300 employees.
Why would someone with such a high income take on a public role for €35,000? What political ties does she have? Which companies has she helped or will help—her own?
In 2023, Irfis’ personnel costs alone exceeded 6 million euros. The average annual cost per employee is around 60,000 euros. Yet, no one knows the names of those receiving these salaries. In a democracy, public money should have names and responsibilities.
Where Do the European Funds Go?
Each year, billions of euros earmarked for Sicily return to the European Union. Why? Because projects aren’t submitted on time, because structures aren’t activated, because offices don’t function or are merely facades staffed by politically connected people rather than qualified professionals.
In 2025, only 13% of PNRR funds allocated to Sicily were actually spent. Years ago, 380 million euros were lost due to severe management failures. In 2024, 181 Sicilian municipalities were penalized for failing to use participatory democracy funds.
When these funds go back, it means fewer infrastructures, less assistance, fewer jobs, more emigration.
They Call It Aid: It’s Just a Bone
The one-time €2,500 contribution per family, which Governor Schifani heralded as “a sign of care,” is not monthly. It barely covers electricity and gas bills for a year. Nothing more.
It’s the classic bone thrown to a dog after keeping it starved and chained.
And Schifani even congratulates himself for granting this pittance.
The Real Mafia Is the System
While citizens are prosecuted for a few unpaid bills or minor tax evasion, politicians support two families — the official and the secret one — with salaries among the highest in the world.
In many cases, they can even afford the luxury vice of the rich: cocaine, like the infamous Gianfranco Miccichè, who reportedly used a government car to purchase it or sent a restaurant owner to fetch it.
How many more Miccichès are there? Perhaps even within the anti-mafia itself. Consider judge Silvana Saguto, former president of Palermo’s Court for Preventive Measures, sentenced to 8 years and 6 months for corruption, now under house arrest. If she were truly imprisoned and decided to turn state’s evidence, we could uncover the entire political-mafia system in Italy — which spans all parties, from left to right.
The Time Has Come
It’s time for the Sicilian people to suspend blind obedience to a system that has betrayed them and reclaim their sovereignty. It’s time to question, investigate, and publicly denounce the chain of abuses that, under the name of the State and legality, has impoverished the island.
It’s time for Sicilians to take a break from football rights and start monitoring the violations of their democratic rights.
Because even those who manage to survive today will see their children pay the price for this system tomorrow. And not everyone will be able to enjoy those loopholes where people draw salaries from offices no one can even locate.
It is a right of the Sicilian people to know how their money is spent. Public money belongs to the people, not to political parties. Politicians are not Sicily’s masters: they are (or should be) its servants.
Sicilia Indipendente announces that an email address will soon be available for submitting evidence, documents, and reports on other cases of political corruption and systemic abuse. Being based in the United States, we fully enjoy the constitutional right to freedom of the press and the protection of sources. No authority can compel us to reveal the identity of our informants. This ensures protection for every honest citizen who wishes to speak out, always within the bounds of the law.
Sicilia Indipendente: free, honest, and hard-working.
Let’s not let impunity become the norm. The awakening begins here.
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