June 16, 2024, 05:01
2 min read
CATANIA – He listened to a hearing on Radio Radicale and spontaneously decided to come forward, writing to the public prosecutor and asking to be heard to deny the statements of two witnesses. A new witness appears at the trial on the alleged budget hole of Palazzo degli Elefanti. This would be a manager of the Municipality of Catania.
Prosecutor Fabio Regolo spoke about it in the courtroomwho supports the accusation in a hearing involving 28 politicians and auditors who administered at Palazzo degli Elefanti between 2013 and 2018. Among them is also the former mayor Enzo Bianco.
His version
The trial is held before the Collegiate Court of Catania, presided over by Alessandro Ricciardolo. After having spoken about it, the Prosecutor deposited in his file – already available to the parties, who however until yesterday had not had time to examine them – the statements with which a witness asks to speak, saying that he refutes the arguments of two witnesses, who – as mentioned – according to him would have declared falsely.
The two texts in question both have supported versions too in relation to political relationships and those developed within the then municipal council. According to the surprise witness – a person who was not on the public prosecutor’s list and who was probably never heard – they would have said untruthful things. The prosecutor made the documents available to the parties.
The accusations
The defendants, it should be remembered, are 28 in total, accused in various capacities of ideological falsehood. Former mayor, former councilors and former auditors in office at the time of the protests: according to the accusation, they would have “falsely certified the veracity of the revenue forecasts”.
They would have done so despite being “aware of their overestimation” and furthermore they would have “maliciously omitted the registration in the accounting document of sums sufficient to finance the huge debts off balance sheet”. The investigation was conducted by the Economic-Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Catania.
The process continues
At the last hearing, the Court rejected a question put forward by Enzo Bianco’s lawyer, Professor Giovanni Grasso. The defense asked for the charges to be annulled because they were too general: there would be a lack of “clear and precise indication of the facts attributed to the accused”. Thus it would have been impossible to defend oneself.
For the judges, the charges “formulated by the public prosecutor appear sufficiently specific and detailed and in any case this accusation is adequately readable by the accused in light of the investigative documents well known to them”.
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Published on
June 16, 2024, 05:01
