BARI – “There is no doubt” about the fact that on 26 August three years ago the then regional manager Mario Lerario received a bribe of 35 thousand euros in cash from the entrepreneur Antonio Illuzzi in exchange for the awarding of nine contracts for 3, 7 million euros. And this is enough, writes the preliminary hearing judge Giuseppe Ronzino, to support the abbreviated sentence issued in March: another 5 years and 4 months for the former manager, four years for the entrepreneur.
The crux of it all is the conversation that the Finance bugs recorded that summer day, while Lerario’s car was stopped in the parking lot of a service station. «Doctor, these are ten, 25 the other time and ten, these, for painting. Don’t let yourself be caught » says Illuzzi while he hears the rustle of paper. According to the judge, the interception «documents in a clear way the giving, at different times, of sums of money by Illuzzi to the benefit of the Lerario in relation to the awarding of public contracts in favor of companies attributable to the entrepreneur». Lerario defended himself by claiming that in that conversation they talked about the repayment of sums relating to work at home that the manager had commissioned from Illuzzi, as well as the Region’s delay in settling the invoices. But the judge didn’t believe it. “Direct listening to the conversations (carried out by this judge) cannot generate any misunderstandings whatsoever”, and in any case that of the defense is “an absolutely not credible version”…
