After almost a month of house arrest, governor Giovanni Toti is “tested” but confident and “determined to demonstrate his non-involvement” with respect to the accusations of corruption by the Genoa Prosecutor’s Office. He resisted the judicial earthquake that overwhelmed him and the Region. The decision not to resign came after a meeting authorized by the Prosecutor’s Office with his loyal right-hand man, councilor Giacomo Giampedrone, in his home in Ameglia, in the presence of his lawyer Stefano Savi.
Lawyer Savi, was the meeting authorized by the magistrates because it was deemed necessary for President Toti to decide what to do with his political future?
«In anticipation of this motion of no confidence presented by the minority and under discussion tomorrow (today, ed.) we asked the investigating judge to authorize the meeting so that Toti could have information on what is happening in the Region after his arrest. And it was important because since he was placed under house arrest he has only seen me and I am certainly not a political representative. Finally he had information on what is happening in the Region, on the support of the majority and also on what the urgent deadlines are for some practices of interest to Liguria.”
Suspended from his duties, what are the margins of his action under house arrest?
«Naturally he cannot intervene, but even taking into account the need for a balance between the reasons for the trial and institutional reasons, it was of political interest to make known his intention not to resign».
How long can the Region go on without its president?
«This situation is not destined to become permanent. However, the Region is structured in such a way as to be able to do so. The mechanism was triggered on the same day as the arrests, there is a vice president and a fully operational council.”
In the newspapers it was described as the “Toti system”. What remains of that media summary?
«There is nothing about the system in a negative sense. There is a working method that has always led to results in the public interest. The investigations lasted years, no system of malfeasance emerged, it seems to me that we are starting to understand.”
To date, the elements of the accusation are exclusively the intercepted telephone calls?
«Basically yes, we will then see what emerges from the outcome of the interrogations being carried out, but to date the accusations are based on telephone calls and wiretaps which Toti has already clarified in the interrogation. There was never any personal interest behind those conversations. He intervened in relation to bureaucratic obstacles that could hinder investments and work. The contested actions were always aimed at understanding whether something could be done and understanding why it wasn’t being done.”
They accuse him of having intervened to favor the extension of the concession of the Bulk Terminal to the entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli, according to the prosecutors the alleged corruptor, in exchange for electoral financing.
«Spinelli proposed an application to extend the concession in 2019. He had invested some money and had employees who were at risk of going home, and in 2021 there was still no one who had responded. I would say that the scandal is a public body that takes two years to respond, not Toti who requests a decision based on objective parameters.”
Is his return to freedom conditional on his resignation?
«Normally, if a suspect is no longer in a position to repeat a crime, the precautionary measure ceases, in our case if he were no longer president of the Region there would no longer be one of the conditions for arrests. In many cases, resignation is the shortest way to return to freedom. We chose another path. Moreover, in this proceeding another suspect who no longer has the role he had during the events remains in prison (Paolo Signorini, former president of the port authority whose request for house arrest was rejected by the investigating judge). In Toti’s case, then, the repetition of the crime relating to the upcoming European elections does not exist, given that he is not participating”.
Why haven’t you filed the request for revocation of house arrest yet?
“At this point we are trying to understand the best time to do this, which we believe is when the prosecutors have finished the main questioning of the witnesses.”
In any case, until there is a decision on the revocation of house arrest, nothing will change. Won’t Toti resign?
«The position remains the one he reiterated, there will however be a need for another discussion within the local and national majority to decide what to do».
How is the governor?
“AND
a person to whom a precautionary measure has been applied so that his state of mind is affected, but he has not allowed himself to be discouraged, he intends to fight his battle as a man who considers himself absolutely innocent”.
