Bari, 1.3 million euro sequester for alleged embezzlement from Pugliapromozione. The investigation involves 13 people, including four public officials, accused of taking part in a system that would have allowed to divert public resources of the Regional Tourism Agency between 2017 and 2023. According to the investigative hypothesis, the money would have been used for exclusively personal purposes through a mechanism that would have allowed to appropriate a total of over 2.5 million euros. At the center of the investigations is the former interim director general of the agency, who has since died, who would have acted in concert with the then responsible for the payroll and payments office. Further investigations conducted by the Financial Police Nucleus of the Guardia di Finanza of Bari would have allowed to reconstruct new diversionary conduct carried out in similar ways to those already emerged in the previous phases of the investigation. In particular, the allegations concern salary and 'off-the-books' compensation paid to the former director general. The checks, carried out also with the collaboration of the same agency, would have highlighted sums considered entirely unjustified and largely superior to those due in accordance with the position held and the contractual arrangement. According to the investigators, the system would have been applied for years and would have allowed to divert public money to private assets. The allegations also involve family members and other private individuals who, according to the accusation, would have received part of the sums, contributing to conceal their origin and to re-use them in economic activities or in the purchase of goods. The operation represents a further development of an investigation that had already led, between 2024 and 2025, to the execution of three distinct sequestrations for a total value exceeding 1.2 million euros.