In the past, Piero Fassino would have been recognized as the perpetrator of a theft in the duty free shop of Terminal 1 of Fiumicino airport where he was reported last April 15 after being stopped with an unpaid bottle of Chanel perfume in his pocket. On the first occasion, according to what was learned from investigative sources, the Democratic MP had not been stopped. Precisely for this ‘precedent’ – highlighted by the shop’s employees – the Polaria agents would also have heard the testimonies of other shop employees who were not present on April 15th.
The investigators also have in hand the video footage from the duty free surveillance cameras from which it emerges – according to what transpires – that Fassino had actually attempted to steal the perfume and that the parliamentarian did not have his cell phone in his hand as he later told the media attributing the gesture of putting the package in his pocket to the distraction of a phone call. The items purchased by the Police will now be included in a report that will be sent to the Civitavecchia prosecutor’s office.
The former Minister of Justice and former mayor of Turin has not yet been able to see the images of the video that would incriminate him, but his version of events is different from that of the airport security. “I have never stolen anything. I would like to have seen those images myself, in fact, I hope to see them soon, he declared to Repubblica. Let them show me, so we can clarify”, he says. According to an accredited source heard by Repubblica, in the video Fassino is seen “directly entering the women’s perfume stand, dragging a trolley, wearing a dark jacket. He takes a 100 ml pack of Chanel Chance (price 130 euros, ed.). Raise his eyes in the direction of the cameras, he looks around, goes into a corner and puts the perfume in a pocket of his jacket. He leaves the duty free shop without purchasing anything and is approached by a private security guard”. For Fassino it is a misunderstanding: his version is that having his hands occupied with his cell phone and trolley – “I didn’t say I was on the phone, I said I had the phone in my hand” – he had put the perfume in his pocket, but with the intention to pay it.
If the MEP offered to pay, writes the Courier, (and he has already made a series of statements to this effect) the company could consider withdrawing its complaint.
