The Catania Public Prosecutor’s Office has appealed the decision of the investigating judge who rejected the seizure of the assets of the companies Rap of Palermo and Oikos
as part of the investigation into the Valanghe d’inverno and Tiritì landfill sites. In recent days, the Carabinieri of Noe and the judicial police section have served a notice of conclusion of investigations to 32 suspects in which it is hypothesized, for various reasons, crimes of abuse in the management, treatment and disposal of hundreds of thousands of tons of waste.
Among those under investigation, the entrepreneurs of Oikos spa, Orazio and Domenico Proto, the head of the regional civil protection department Salvatore Cocina, in his capacity as general manager of the Waste Management Plant Authorizations service, some then managers and technicians of Rap, the then mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, and the three commissioners appointed by the prefect of Catania for the management of the landfill, in office from 19 December 2014 to 3 February 2017: Maurizio Cassarino, Riccardo Tenti and Stefano Scammacca.
Investigation also closed for two companies, in the person of their respective legal representatives: Rap di Palermo Spa and Oikos Spa. According to an indictment, undifferentiated and non-separated urban waste was disposed of by Rap di Palermo in the landfills managed by Oikos as a dry fraction, as expected, due to the inadequacy and inefficiency of the fixed and mobile mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plants
in use in the Bellolampo landfill. This, according to the prosecution, would have allowed the two companies to earn huge amounts
earnings.
The notice of conclusion of the investigation was signed by the deputy prosecutors Raffaella Agata Vinciguerra and Angelo Brugaletta, and endorsed by the deputy prosecutor Ignazio Fonzo. The same magistrates who had requested personal measures and the seizure of the assets of the two companies under investigation, which however the investigating judge rejected. The Prosecutor’s Office has partially appealed against this decision of the judge for preliminary investigations: once again asking for the reform of the decision with the seizure of the assets of the Rap of Palermo and the Oikos and the consequent appointment of administrators.
