Bibbiano, escort and champagne in exchange for 650 thousand euros in contracts for the disposal of special waste (including missiles and phosphorus bombs)

Escort and disposal of special waste: to be precise, obsolete armaments, including missiles, phosphorus bombs, shell casings. An investigation born in the Reggio Emilia area but extended throughout Italy: Parma, Verona, Brescia, Lucca, Livorno, Sassari, Rome and Siena.

Luxury “ring”, bottles of champagnehotel stays and expensive dinners as well fuel vouchers and tickets for football matches in exchange for procurement entrusted exclusively for the “scrapping” of war material.

Enrico Benedetti, from Esa in Bibbiano, is under house arrest

Corruption and exploitation of prostitution These are the crimes contested in the «Leonida» operation conducted by the Financial Police and coordinated by the Reggio Emilia prosecutor’s office which led to the execution of 5 precautionary measures (of which one under house arrest and four interdictions) and 14 warnings. Enrico Benedetti ended up under house arrest, the sole shareholder and president of the Board of Directors of Greenlife srl and of Ecologia Soluzione Ambiente Spa based in Bibbiano, in the Reggio Emilia area.

Two Army officers are also among those under investigation

Among those under investigation are also two Army officers and a civil engineerall three employed in the military establishment for the restoration and recovery of ammunition in Noceto (Parma) and accused of having received the gifts to favor the company in direct assignments of special waste disposal works (including demilitarization activities of missiles and white phosphorus bombs) for a total amount of 650,000 euros between April 2023 and last January.

The problem of orders awarded directly

Public contracts awarded directly and alleged illegal acts against the Reggio Emilia company were identified in the context of the services requested by some municipal companies operating in Tuscany, Veneto and Lombardy and 10 people are being investigated for these conducts (of which, 5 private individuals connected to a Reggio Emilia company and 5 public officials included in the three publicly held companies involved in the investigations). The investigators’ attention was also focused on another significant element: how much environmental protection regulations were respected in the disposal of special waste, as mentioned, mostly war material.

Fuel vouchers worth 500 euros and a lamp worth 267

The judicial papers tell the story that corruption could have small implications. A floor lamp worth 267 euros, five “Eni branded” fuel cards worth 500 euros and entrance fees to the “Ecomodo” fair in Rimini for a total of around 40 euros. Here they are, some of the gifts offered to obtain direct assignments to Ecologia Soluzione Ambiente. The list also includes Christmas packages and lunches within the Esa company headquarters and “elegant” dinners with the escort company.

Luigi Brindisi, civilian employed at the Aid site in Noceto– Defense Industries Agency – for example, he was a fan of Parma football and had the tickets (worth 330 euros) given to him by the Reggio Emilia businesswoman Giorgia Iasoni, vice-president of Esa and wife of the “king of car parks” Filippo Lodetti Alliata. Last season, at the end of the match against Cosenza – in the Serie B championship – Brindisi, Iasoni and the president of the opposing team then all went to lunch together.

The colonel and dinner with two escorts

In June and September 2023 the colonel of the army Luca Corrieri, in service at the Aid site in Noceto, held two events there and charged the catering (3,657 euros in total for the services offered by the «Peccati di gluta» pastry shop) to Ecologia solution environment. On one occasion the soldier took part in a dinner at Benedetti’s house with two escorts and also obtained the promise of a “reserved event” with two others. He also accepted as gifts two cases of prosecco and a Christmas box.

The other senior officer involved is Brigadier General Giulio Bottocoordinator officer of the ammunition production units of the Noceto plant (which he also directed from 2015 until April 2020) and army colonel Luca Corrieri, director of the “restoration and recovery” plant from 2020 to September 2023 of the operation of the Parma site. Both Botto and Corrieri, investigated for complicity in aggravated corruption for acts contrary to their official duties, were suspended from public office for eight months.

«A bleak picture»

The chief prosecutor of Reggio Calogero Gaetano Paci speaks of a «desolating and devastating picture of commercialism of the activity of these public officials who at a certain point end up subjugating themselves to the wishes and entrepreneurial needs of Benedetti». In the precautionary custody order the investigating judge of the Reggio court Luca Ramponi he writes instead that “their loyalty to the body they belong to and to their duties is as poor as their respect for the law” and that the suspects demonstrate in accepting the corrupt offers “the absence of any moral restraint beyond than the lack of any respect for the duties of military discipline”.

April 17, 2024 (modified April 17, 2024 | 12:38)

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