The president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti arrested last Tuesday for corruption in an investigation by the Genoa prosecutor’s office will appear in the early afternoon before the investigating judge Paola Faggioni for the warrant interrogation. According to the magistrates, the governor, under house arrest, accepted from Aldo and Roberto Spinelli “the promises of various loans and received a total of 74,100 euros” and in exchange he committed to “facilitating” the entrepreneurs to “find a solution” in the privatization of the beach of Punta Dell’Olmo, to unblock the process of a construction practice stalled in the regional offices and to “speed up and approve” some port resolutions in their favor. Expected (at 2pm) at the Palace of Justice, Toti will not speak as anticipated by defender Stefano Savi who will be at his side. “We have a huge file to look into and we’ve only had it in our hands since yesterday,” he explains in a video released by the Region. “Before taking positions or giving explanations we must carefully read the documents to understand what, where and how to provide explanations.” Answers that the governor is sure he can give with respect to the transfers received from individuals and businesses to the Giovanni Toti – Liguria Committee. Money whose traceability, “both incoming and outgoing, is total” and which “was all spent for political needs”. Therefore, the defense thesis is, “There was no anomaly in the expenditure, neither on a personal basis nor on any other basis.” The political earthquake caused by the investigation requires reflection and the governor – suspended from his duties – is thinking about the future. Evaluations “which cannot ignore a comparison that can be made with conditions different from the current ones, with all the people who have worked with him to date and with the parties that are part of his majority”. The objective now is to revoke house arrest. Meanwhile, the line of silence inaugurated yesterday by Paolo Emilio Signorini, former president of the Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea, detained in Marassi could also be followed by Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani and Aldo Spinelli, both under house arrest , whose warrant questions are expected on Saturday morning again at the prosecutor’s office. Next Monday and Tuesday, however, the other recipients of the “minor” precautionary measures will appear before the investigating judge.
