«The conflict of interest has nothing to do with my private activity»

Military of the Financial police Of Tarantolast week, they acquired documents and identified the staff serving in the Osmairm rehabilitation center in The thirdled by the mother-in-law and wife of the Tourism Councilor of the Puglia Region, Gianfranco Lopane (civic list ‘Con’).

Lopane is administrator of the company ‘Armonia Immobiliare’ which deals with the kitchen and laundry services of the Osmairm rehabilitation center and which receives around 30 million euros a year from the Region Puglia. This was reported by Corriere del Mezzogiorno to which councilor Lopane – who is not involved in the investigations directed by prosecutor Lucia Isceri – states: «My company provides services to various clients, including Osmairm. The conflict of interests has nothing to do with my private activity, furthermore in the firm consideration that the causes of incompatibility with the political office I hold are regulated by precise legal provisions which define the very concept of legality and which, conversely, they excluded the existence of any conflict of interest attributable to me with respect to my candidacy before and after the election”. According to what was reported by the newspaper, the yellow flames have collected and merged into the investigation file of the prosecutor’s office tax, accounting and contract documentation which refers to a period of time between 2017 and today. “The operation of the financiers in the Osmairm structures – underlines the councilor – did not in any way concern my service company”.

Lopane: “No case on me”

“No case against me, it’s a short step from ‘legality’ to ‘witch hunt'” thunders the regional councilor for Tourism Lopane. «As I have already specified in my statements, I have been managing a service company, Armonia Immobiliare srl, since 2018, therefore before I was elected to the regional council – said Lopane -. My company provides services to various clients, including also Osmairm. The conflict of interests has nothing to do with my private activity, furthermore in the firm consideration that the causes of incompatibility with the political office I hold are regulated by precise legal provisions which define the very concept of legality and which, conversely, they excluded the existence of any conflict of interest attributable to me with respect to my candidacy first and election afterwards”.

«Who is raising this conflict today? Perhaps from the self-interested slander of some whistleblowers, anonymous or otherwise, to whom it is inexplicably believed that credit is given without any verification? Frankly, it is not even possible to understand the reasons why the news, despite my clarifications, is tendentiously compared to other events to which I am absolutely unrelated: to the legitimate checks of the last few days by the Financial Police in the Osmairm structures which have not in any way related to my service company; as well as the undue comparison between my professional and public activity with the investigations and arrests that have affected the recent judicial news of Bari and our region. I don’t find a plausible connection except that of wanting to indirectly influence political choices on the part of those who are called upon to make them in a delicate moment – continues the councilor -. There is a shameful, defamatory and completely senseless journalistic frenzy underway through scandalous tones and contents without appropriate verification or the result of illicit leaks of information. For these reasons it is extremely paradoxical to read from the columns of the Corriere that the company I manage is ‘in the sights of financiers’ with ongoing investigations that I only learn from the writer’s pen. That said, should the real circumstance of having to show documentation arise, I will, as always, be ready to respond with the utmost transparency and honesty.”

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