Since dawn this morning, over 90 soldiers from the provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza of Reggio Emilia, as part of the activities to protect public spending and delegated by the local Public Prosecutor’s Office, directed by the prosecutor Calogero Gaetano Paci, have been carrying out five precautionary measures (1 house arrest and 4 disqualifications) issued by the investigating judge of Reggio Emilia against as many people – including three public officials – 26 local searches and the notification of 14 information on guarantees and on the right to defence.
The service operation is underway in the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Parma, Verona, Brescia, Lucca, Livorno, Sassari, Rome and Siena, and starts from an investigative context relating to alleged irregularities in the direct awarding of public contracts on an exclusive basis to a company from Reggio Emilia, operating in the waste disposal sector, whose sole shareholder and President of the Board of Directors is an entrepreneur from Reggio Emilia (recipient of the house arrest measure).
The investigation activity, conducted by the Economic-Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Reggio Emilia, has to date made it possible to bring to light some criminal conduct to the detriment of the public administration, consisting of mechanisms suitable for illicitly influencing award procedures of public contracts related to waste disposal.
The public contracts entrusted directly to the Reggio Emilia company were identified among the services requested by some municipal companies operating in Tuscany, Veneto and Lombardy and 10 people are under investigation for these conducts (5 private entities connected to a Reggio Emilia company and 5 Public Officials/Public Service Representatives included in the 3 public companies involved in the investigations), recipients of local searches, aimed at acquiring further evidentiary elements.
Similar conduct was identified in the procedures for the assignment of the Reggio Emilia company by a public administration, for which the investigative activities made it possible to identify serious and converging indications of crime against some public officials, who – in exchange for money or other utilities – would have favored the Reggio Emilia company in the awarding of large orders. Therefore, the GIP of Reggio Emilia issued the following measures:
– for private individuals: 1 measure of house arrest against the entrepreneur and 1 measure of the ban on residence in the territory of the Province of Reggio Emilia and Parma, as well as a ban from business activity for one year, against a partner and Director of the company, as well as joint president of the board of directors.
– for public officials/public service representatives: 1 measure of suspension from the exercise of a public office or service for 1 year against a civilian personal technician of a public administration and 2 measures of suspension from the exercise of a public office or service for 8 months in relation to two other public officials.
The public contracts entrusted directly and in an illicit manner to the Reggio Emilia company by the public body in question amount to just under €650,000.00, for the period investigated alone (April 2023 – January 2024).
The entrepreneur from Reggio Emilia used to use various forms of corruption, such as donations of money, constant gifts beyond normal uses, hospitality in hotels or private villas, payment for receptions in favor of public officials, organization of dinners with the presence of attractive escorts , football match tickets, provision of petrol vouchers, paid work outside of public employment, etc…
He was also charged with the crime of exploitation of prostitution for having used some escorts as a means of corruption.
Tags: Reggio Escorts money obtain contracts arrest public officials involved
