ROME, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Some 11 people were arrested in Italy on Thursday in connection with the bankruptcy of a local transport company, local media reported.
Overall, 29 people were put under investigation, including managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals of the South East Railway (FSE) operating in the Pulia region, according to Ansa news agency.
All of the people involved in the probe were charged with bankruptcy fraud in connection with the management of the company between 2001 and 2015.
The suspects would have syphoned about 230 million euros (286 million U.S. dollars) from the company's coffers, Ansa reported citing the magistrate's arrest warrant order.
FSE former executive chief Luigi Fiorillo was among those arrested in the operation, which was coordinated by prosecutors in Pulia's regional capital Bari.
Arrests and raids were carried out by financial police in Bari, Rome, Bologna, and Lecce, according to Il Sole 24 Ore business daily.
South East Railway is a regional public company operating the bus and railway transport network in Pulia, in the southeast of Italy. It was taken over by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport -- through the Italian State Railways (FS) -- in November 2016, and was currently under a procedure of composition agreement with creditors.
The company, which currently counted some 1,300 employees, posted a total loss of 268 million euros (333.5 million U.S. dollars) in January 2017, the FS said in a statement last year.
In June 2016, assets worth some 12 million euros had been seized to former CEO Fiorillo and a second executive in another probe, for having allegedly inflated the price of 27 trains bought by the FSE. However, Italy's Court of Cassation later overturned the provision.
In June 2017, a court in Bari ordered a second, larger seizure of assets worth some 180 million euros against the manager. (1 euro = 1.24 U.S. dollars)
