They bring to the offices of the Palazzo Civico the interceptions – it will be seen if also the investigative thread – of the investigation into the alleged disturbed freedom of the procedure for choosing the contractor in the tenders for Cioccolatò and the Christmas Marketswhich culminated with the arrest of the entrepreneur ten days ago Francesco Ferrara and seven other people. The precautionary custody order was for kidnapping and extortion, aggravated by the mafia method, but the contextual search decree, signed by the public prosecutor Manuela Pedrottahad opened up a middle world: «Ferrara – is the accusation hypothesis – intervened on those responsible for the administrative procedures to have the assignment of some public events organized in Torno (Christmas and Chocolate Markets)”. An episode which, according to investigations by the Turin investigative section of the Central Operational Service (SCO) of the police, was confirmed in April 2023.
The frequenting of public offices emerges from some telephone calls between Ferrara and Paolo Madoglio, arrested and, for the investigators, his right-hand man: «He says he has just left the Municipality for Cioccolatò and they would have told him that the “culture” is moving for Christmas», the agents write, summarizing a call dated 19 June 2023 , and attached to the summary information note filed with the Prosecutor’s Office. It is in that phone call that he is mentioned the name of a person who works at the Sports, Major Events and Tourism department: «Ferrara calls Madoglio, who tells him to speak to the priest (ref. Libonati, ed.). Ferrara says that the priest is in Greece until Friday and will see him on Monday.” According to investigators, the two are referring to Giuseppe Libonati (not under investigation), member of the Regional Guarantee Commission of the Democratic Party.
He is not the only contact mentioned in the interceptions by the two, given the summary of another conversation, on 7 July: “I’m meeting on Monday (ref. meeting with Lo Cicero?? ed.)”, says Ferrara. The policemen’s hypothesis is that the appointment was with Fabio Lo Cicero (not investigated), technical contact for major events in the municipality, former secretary of the San Mauro Torinese PD and then, for three years, with Azione di Calenda. It goes without saying, the hunt is on others, namely those responsible for the proceedings who – according to the accusation – would have contributed to rigging the tenders.
In the investigation documents, there remains the feeling of a certain amount of contact and familiarity with some public administration offices for the presentation of “projects and tenders”. Nothing strange, except for Ferrara and Madoglio – respectively defended by lawyers Demetrio La Cava and Attilio Molinengo; and Edoardo Carmagnola — did not appear formally in the companies; like them there is no trace in Etica srl which was entrusted with the concession of the brand and management of «Cioccolatò» for 2023, with a management decision of 18 July of the same year. An act which, together with the fourth installment of the 2017 concession, reached an amount of 88,603.40 euros. The company was managed by Maria GentileMadoglio’s mother.
The investigation into Cioccolatò and the Markets also seems to be intertwined with that of public funds entrusted to food events and festivals which, a month ago, saw the journalist investigated Luca Ferruaformer director of The taste (newspaper unrelated to the investigation), defended by the lawyer Luigi Chiappero; as well as the president and director of Visit Piemonte (defended by the lawyer Luca Calabrò), the Region’s in-house company that deals with tourism promotion. The Acting Prosecutor Enrica Gabetta and the public prosecutor Elisa Buffa they accuse Ferrua of disruption and corruption, while the two managers are only accused of the first hypothesis. Behind it, there would also be an alleged round of favors in the world of food and wine.
