THE EAGLE. “No corruption: the fact does not exist.” With the broadest formula, the judges of the Court of Appeal of L’Aquila acquitted the former municipal manager Mario Corridore (73 years old) and the entrepreneur from Treviso Gianni Tasca (owner of a company involved in reconstruction) from corruption charges.
The verdict of the court, which in the first instance had inflicted three years’ imprisonment on each of the two defendants, was overturned. The same court, on 13 July 2021, had simultaneously acquitted the engineer Ilaria Corridor, Mario’s daughter, clearing her of the charge of complicity in corruption. Corridor was assisted by the lawyer Francesco Camerini. The legal matter – which had nothing to do with Corridore’s actions at the Municipality – dates back to 2016 and concerns the awarding of the reconstruction work of a condominium of which the accused was the administrator, therefore in charge of a public service. According to the accusation, the contract was “piloted”.
The investigations by the Guardia di Finanza had led to the preventive seizure of the sum of 264 thousand euros from two of the three suspects, aimed at confiscation by equivalent amount. The Review Court had accepted the request of the defense lawyers of the then suspects to release the sum and the Court of Cassation had also expressed its opinion on the matter, confirming the release in full compliance with the defense requests.
The lawyers, who appealed against the first instance sentence, had always considered the case of corruption to be non-existent compared to how it had been reconstructed by the investigations carried out by the Fiamme Gialle, including the hypothesis of the discount on work for another construction site.
Parallel to the legal case, the failure to reconstruct the property that was targeted, which is located outside Porta Napoli, developed. At the moment, 15 years after the earthquake, the building (which housed 21 condominiums before the earthquake) has been demolished and a commissioner has been appointed.
In the meantime, between one change in legislation and another, we now risk having to pay for a new project.(cr.aq)
Tags: corruption Corridor acquitted LAquila
