Conclusion of the Catania investigation, Sammartino is also there

CATANIA, 16 JUN – The notice of conclusion of the preliminary investigations was issued by the Catania Prosecutor’s Office against 29 suspects in the Pandora investigation, channeled into investigations by the Carabinieri, into alleged infiltration of organized crime and episodes of corruption in the Municipality of Tremestieri Etna. The news is reported by the newspaper La Sicilia. Among the recipients of the measure there is also the leader of the League in Sicily, Luca Sammartino who, under investigation for two alleged cases of corruption, resigned as vice-president of the Sicilian Region and as councilor for Agriculture on 17 April after being suspended from public functions by the investigating judge. His lawyer, Carmelo Peluso, has appealed against the measure: the hearing will be held on June 26th. Two of the 29 suspects who received the notice of conclusion of the investigation are in prison: the former mayor of Tremestieri Santi Rando and Pietro Alfio Cosentino, who are under investigation for a political-mafia exchange vote for the 2015 local elections. Among those under investigation are also two exponents of prominent figures of Cosa Nostra: Francesco Santapaola and Vito Romeo, the latter Cosentino’s brother-in-law. The investigation also aims to shed light on contracts and assignments of works to the Municipality, and on this front the Prefecture of Catania has turned on a further spotlight by providing inspection access to the local authority. Sammartino has always contested the accusations, expressing “full confidence in the judiciary”. There are two alleged cases of corruption contested by the Prosecutor’s Office. The first is to have favored the owner of a pharmacy in Tremestieri Etneo by committing himself to preventing one of his competitors from opening. In exchange he would have obtained electoral support for the candidate for the European elections that he supported in 2019 for the Democratic Party, Caterina Chinnici, later elected and now in Forza Italia, totally unrelated to the investigation. The second case concerns two carabinieri from the judicial police unit of the Prosecutor’s Office, one on duty and the other on leave, who allegedly provided information on any investigations against him and cleared his secretariat of any bugs. The notice of conclusion of the investigation was signed by the deputy prosecutors Rocco Liguori, Fabio Saponara and Santo Distefano and endorsed by the deputy prosecutor Francesco Puleio and the acting prosecutor Agata Santonocito.