The reasons that led the former governor of Basilicata, Pittella, to be acquitted, explained by doubts about the revision of the rankings of health competitions
POTENZA – There is no way to establish “beyond any reasonable doubt” which “correctives” the former administrative director of the ASM was referring to, after meeting the then governor Marcello Pittella. That is, if he meant the “corrections” already made on the rankings of the competition in which the former governor’s recommendees participated, or others expressly requested by the latter.
This is the reason behind the confirmation of the acquittal of the former president of the regional council in the trial on rigged competitions in healthcare. Six years after the explosion of the case which cost him house arrest and 5 months of suspension from office. Before resigning and giving up the race for a second presidential term.
In recent days, the Potenza Court of Appeal filed the reasons for the verdict with which at the beginning of March it confirmed the verdict issued in December 2021 by the Court of Matera. Rejecting the appeals of the 7 convicted for having controlled the outcome of a competition of the Matera Health Authority (ASM) for 8 posts as administrative assistant, reserved for the disabled, and a competition of the Regional Oncology Center (Crob) of Rionero for the hiring an administrative manager. As well as the acquittals of Pittella and 7 other defendants for whom the Matera prosecutor’s office had appealed against the first instance sentence.
The investigators of the Città dei Sassi had insisted, in particular, in asking for a conviction of the former governor, who had just been re-elected for the fourth time in the Regional Council, and running in the European elections of 8 and 9 June on the Action list.
The accusation against him was always complicity in forgery and abuse of office, for the alleged “pressure” on the former administrative director of the ASM, Maria Benedetto “for the falsification” of a report of the competition commission for 8 positions as an administrative assistant, “in relation to the modification of the votes attributed to some of the candidates”. All on the basis of some telephone interceptions by Benedetto herself, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and the former general director of the ASM, Piero Quinto, sentenced to 2 years and 6 months.
However, the Court presided over by Angela D’Amelio, who also signed the reasons for the sentence as rapporteur, had a different opinion.
«From the content of the aforementioned conversations – we read in the sentence just filed – it is not possible to deduce, inferentially, “beyond any reasonable doubt” that Pittella, during the visit carried out by Benedetto to his home in Lauria, pressured the interlocutor to obtain a change in the scores already assigned to the candidates in the competition in question.
And indeed from the overall tenor of the recordings it could be deduced that Pittella, with a courteous attitude, only received the information provided to him by Benedetto, which, based on the directives provided by Quinto before the meeting, must have had as its object the presentation of the impossibility of help some reported candidates, despite the corrections of the scores already indicated by Quinto to Benedetto on 9 May 2017, as emerges from the conversation transcribed from page 147 to page 149 of the first instance sentence, in which Quinto goes so far as to give the interlocutor specific indications on grades that must go down, grades that must go up and insufficiencies that must be maintained”.
«This – underlines D’Amelio – happened before the meeting between Benedetto and Pittella under observation on 13 May 2017».
«The different interpretation provided by the appellant public prosecutor – the sentence continues – appears to be based on merely probabilistic criteria which are unequivocally capable of finding that Pittella, in addition to having reported and recommended some candidates, also carried out further positive or coercive behaviour, which have had a decisive effect on the conduct of the members of the examining commission, given that “the recommendation does not in itself have a causal effect on the behavior of the active subject, who is free to agree or not to the recommendation according to his personal appreciation””.
The Court of Appeal also confirmed the acquittal of the current director general of the Health Department of the Puglia Region, Vito Montanaro, who was accused, with others, of abuse of office and disclosure of secrets in relation to another alleged rigged competition of the Asm. For revealing the traces of the written test.
«Among the interceptions declared usable – explains the Court of Appeal of Potenza – no communication has been identified from which proof can be deduced that the aforementioned public officials had a role in revealing confidential information regarding the content of the competition tests».
