Covid masks, prosecutor asks for a sentence of 1 year and 4 months for former commissioner Arcuri

The Rome Prosecutor’s Office has requested a sentence of 1 year and 4 months for the former extraordinary commissioner for the Covid emergency, Domenico Arcuriaccused of abuse of office in the context of the investigation into the large supply of masks from China in the first phase of the health emergency.

Prosecutors Fabrizio Tucci and Gennaro Varone also requested around ten indictments for the other defendants who opted for the ordinary trial. The name of the entrepreneur Mario Benotti (later deceased) also appears in the investigation, who was charged with the crime of influence trafficking. Benotti, according to the accusation “in competition with others, exploited his personal and hidden relationships with Arcuri, former commissioner for the health emergency, obtaining that the latter ensured Benotti’s partners de facto exclusivity in brokerage of supplies of surgical masks and personal protective equipment”.

According to the accusation, “the right to have a commercial relationship with the PA was guaranteed without assuming any responsibility for the result of one’s action and the validity of the supplies it procured; the almost total exclusivity in the de facto intermediation of supplies of surgical masks and PPE imported from China”. The investigation was about loans worth 1.25 billion for the purchase of over 800 million maskscarried out with the intermediation of some Italian companies.

There defense of Domenico Arcuri he asked for acquittal because the fact does not exist and would like to point out that “the former extraordinary commissioner for the Covid emergency” has requested summary judgment since last September 15th. Arcuri never intended to defend himself from the trial, but in the trial. He has always made himself available to the judicial authorities to question and provide clarifications at every stage of the investigations”. This is what we read in a note from the Volo studio.

“The preliminary hearing process has undergone several postponements which have prolonged its duration until today. Meanwhile, the Senate has approved the first reading of the bill that repeals the crime of abuse of office, the text of which is now being discussed in the House. We have never hoped for the intervention of a ‘saving’ law and we will fight to obtain the affirmation of Arcuri’s full and total innocence” concludes the note.