Piacenza: new chapter on the case of the blue striped parking guarantee. A story that we discovered in recent days and which is now becoming increasingly thorny.
“We do following your request to inform you that the policy in question was not issued by Abarca Companhia de Seguros, SA”. This is the response received via certified email to the Fratelli d’Italia city councilors, Sara Soresi (group leader), Gloria Zanardi And Nicola Domeneghetti, directly from the Portuguese insurance company guarantor of the guarantee deposited in the Municipality by Piacenza Parcheggi. Thus, to shed light on the issue, FdI representatives presented a complaint to the city’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. But let’s go in order and see what happened.
Warranty policy
The guarantee has a duration of five years. It was issued at the end of 2022 to cover a minimum guaranteed fee of 1.2 million euros. It concerns the management of parking areas under concession to Piacenza Parcheggi, a company controlled by the Sicilian prince Filippo Lodetti Alliata, which furthermore has not yet paid the 2023 fee to the Municipality; a figure that amounts to over one million euros, guaranteed by this policy. And now, lo and behold, it should be paid directly by the dealer within a couple of months.
Access to documents
As have the FdI councilors come to suspect that the guarantee, naturally required by law, would be unusable by the Municipality in the event of default by the concessionaire? With access to the documents they requested a copy of the policy from the municipal offices. And after receiving it, they began checking the guarantee dated December 31, 2022.
The Portuguese warning
Before anomaly to arouse suspicion: on 3 April 2023, therefore a few months later, Abarca Seguros itself raised the alarm in a press release: “Recently, we learned that in Italy surety policies have been issued in our name, but without our consent and without ever having had any relationship with the relevant contractors”. Furthermore, the Portuguese company highlighted above all “that it has not issued guarantee policies in Italy in the last three years”. And therefore precisely between 2020 and 2023, the period in which the Piacenza policy is issued.
Nothing is as it seems?
Second anomaly: from checking the documents filed with the Municipality, it emerged that the Spanish citizen (with identity card attached) who declared he was entitled to sign the guarantee for Abarca Seguros, would have a surname “slightly” different from that of an administrator of the Portuguese company.
Third anomaly: not even the legal representative in Italy of Abarca Seguros – an associated firm indicated in the policy with all contact details – would appear to be such: the site does not exist; the address of the office does not match; the phone number gives a call error. When questioned by Fdi’s advisors, the associated firm with the same name indicated in the guarantee, but which naturally has other contact details, denied any wrongdoing.
Fourth an anomaly that leaves one perplexed: on the Ivass website it appears however that the insurance company operates in our country directly from Portugal, without any mention of representatives on Italian territory.
Abarca’s PEC
As we arrive at the last step. At this point, the FdI advisors sent the details of the guarantee to Abarca Seguros, requesting confirmation via certified e-mail of the release of the Piacenza policy. And as we have seen, the company responded: “We follow up on your request to inform you that the policy in question was not issued by Abarca Companhia de Seguros, SA.”
In the Prosecutor’s Office
Opposite of all these elements, the representatives of FdI have decided to file a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Piacenza. In the request, after the description of the case, the prosecutors are asked to shed full light on the matter. The objective is to verify whether, in relation to the surety policy attributed to the Abarca Seguros company, any crime hypotheses emerge, especially against the Municipality of Piacenza.
Giovanni Volpi, professional journalist, is the director of Mio Giornale.net. He started at Sole-24 Ore in 1993. Ten years later he moved to Mondadori, to Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni, where he also held the role of deputy director. He directed Guida TV, TelePiù and 2Tv; also at Mondadori he was deputy editor of Grazia. He collaborated with the Espresso Group as an editorial and journalistic consultant for the local Finegil newspapers.
