Genoa, 11 May 2024 – After governor Toti, also his chief of staff Matteo Cozzani does not respond to the investigating judge. In the’warrant interrogation today he limited himself to denying the charges, without going into the merits “given the amount of documents to be studied”, explained his lawyer Massimo Ceresa Gastaldo. He will clarify at a later time “with maximum availability”. However, the interrogation of Aldo Spinelli, a key figure in the “corruption system” hypothesized by the Genoa prosecutor’s office. “The lawyers aren’t there, they left me alone – he said as he left the investigating judge’s room -. You will know everything on Monday.” And regarding the accusations: “Do not do harm, do not be afraid”, he replied to journalists.
The head of cabinet of the Ligurian president Giovanni Toti, Matteo Cozzani, gets off the yacht of the entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli (Ansa archive photo)
Cozzani: “I resign, lift the house arrest”
To the judge, called to validate the precautionary measures in the maxi Ligurian investigation, the former mayor of Porto Venere Cozzani explained that the need for arrest “no longer exists”, since he will no longer be head of cabinet. “He will resign just revoked i home”.
Cozzani is under investigation for electoral corruption aggravated by the aim of facilitating the activity of a mafia clan. During the electoral campaign for the 2020 regional elections, he would have brought the votes of the Riesi community guaranteed by members of the Cammarata mafia family (at least 400), with the promise of jobs and public housing. According to the investigators, Toti knew and indeed was the “instigator” of the operation. Entrepreneurs act as intermediaries on behalf of Cozzani with the Sicilians, for the Genoa prosecutor’s office Maurice And Arturo Angelo Testa, Forza Italia leaders now suspended from the party.
Toti also accused of forgery
Meanwhile, a new crime attributed to the governor emerges from the papers Giovanni Toti. The governor is in fact also under investigation for falsein the management of landfills in the province of Savona. Event involving the waste management authority Pietro ColucciCampania, investigated for illicit financing. The money paid to Toti’s electoral committee by Colucci over various years would amount to 195 thousand euros: according to the Genoa prosecutor’s office they were never declared.
