The falls from the pear tree of President Schifani are no longer news. But the latest outburst towards the leaders of the Region, reported a few days ago by the Giornale di Sicilia, looks a lot like a forced alarm. Schifani complained about the slowness of the offices in completing the reassessment of residual liabilities, a preparatory act for the liquidation of payments to companies. But in reality the situation had already been resolved. A phone call to the general accounting office would have been enough to confirm this. Instead, the drama of threats to department officials took place, which came in handy to earn the usual stamp in the newspapers (and perhaps some hymns to the governor’s industriousness).
Just 48 hours laterin fact, Schifani communicated that «all the departments of the Region have concluded the reassessment of the residual liabilities, for which payments of approximately two billion euros are released (900 million of regional resources and one billion and one hundred million of extra-regional funds) in favor of of companies and, in general, of the beneficiaries”. The communication arrived at the end of yesterday’s council meeting, in which the accountant general and the managers who were late in completing the procedures were heard.
“The optimal use of financial resources, in the manner and within the foreseen times – underlined Schifani, once the finishing line has been reached – is a priority of the regional government”. And he added: “We believe it is essential that, for the future, general managers respond quickly and within the expected timescales to all requests from general accounting, with particular attention to those aimed at producing the information elements necessary for the processing of accounting documents such as the budget forecast, the ordinary reassessment of residual assets and liabilities and the general statement. Failure to comply – he concludes – will be considered serious managerial failure and will be subject to a specific assessment by the regional council for the application of any sanctions, including revocation of the assignment”.
