Aldo Spinelli gave the money to Giovanni Toti’s electoral committee, so that it would be interested in the thirty-year anniversary of the Rinfuse Terminal, but following official channels. And in any case the governor “did nothing, he boasted”, even though they had “become friends, out of sympathy”. In the preliminary interrogation, the 84-year-old entrepreneur, who ended up under house arrest in the investigation which also involved governor Toti and the former president of the Port Authority, Paolo Emilio Signorini, confirmed the financing which, according to the investigators, would have been used to obtain in change benefits from the governor’s board. Spinelli, however, also assures that all the payments took place openly but that Toti was never able to intervene on the dossiers that interested him: «Politicians do everything to get votes, these ones here talk to the wind». The former patron of Livorno and Genoa told judge Paola Faggioni that Toti «had been interested but everything is regular, everything declared, everything official» on the concessions to Rinfuse, and for this reason he had given 40 thousand euros to the committee «because it had moved, he didn’t do anything but he moved, he called, he did”. The matter had already been passed to the committee. The solution was then unblocked only by the intervention of “commander Aponte”, who “called I don’t know who”. In short, Spinelli complains to the judge that he has spent a lot of money on politicians, despite failing to obtain positive outcomes on the issues in which he had an interest: «I have always given electoral things to him (Toti, ed): we did the Science Festival, we did the Flower Festival, we gave contributions to the churches, I did the church of San Lorenzo. I told him I would give it to him during the election campaign, it’s all documented.”
Privatizations
Just as he had addressed «Burlando (former president of the Liguria region and former mayor of Genoa of the Democratic Party, ed)” when he had “problems”, or had given “official money to Pannella and Bonino, who I don’t even know”. The other dossier on which Spinelli has disagreements with the governor is that of the privatization of the Punta dell’Olmo beach in Varazze, which would have enormously increased the value of the properties he built. “I turned to the governor”, he admits, then confirming the content of an intercept in which Toti explains that he turned to “one of his regional councillors” to “find a solution”. Impossible, however, because European Union legislation is blocking everything. «We asked if we could benefit from doing things regularly but we never got it», then in March 2023 Toti would have assured the success of the operation, but nothing, «I spend two and a half million and you don’t give me a piece of the beach? Toti didn’t do anything”, he complains to the magistrates, “he must have said it to boast. I didn’t promise him the financing.”
A job for Signorini
Again for Rinfuse, investigators believe that Spinelli also gave 40 thousand euros to Signorini. Regarding the former president of the Port Authority, the entrepreneur says: «He was desperate because his work was running out. I told him: “Stop crying, we’ll find a job for you”. According to the prosecutors, he promised him a job in Rome worth 300 thousand euros and gifts for another 100 thousand, a promise – say the investigators – to unblock business at the port. «Mr judge, I explained to him: we are 18 managers of which the youngest is me who is 85 years old, we will find a job for you, don’t worry, don’t worry. What do you think about tomorrow? Think about today”, said Spinelli, “he was worried because he was building a life with his girlfriend, but I told him: “You worked at the Bank of Italy, at the Ministry of Transport, you attended schools in Switzerland . You don’t find people like you anywhere professionally.” Regarding the gifts and attention from non-paying guests in Monte Carlo, Spinelli assured: “They were close to me after my wife’s death.” Toti would also have been his guest in Monte Carlo. «He came to the Grill», Le Grill of the famous Hotel de Paris, explains Corriere della Sera, «to eat recently with his wife, he was on business with Briatore and even there he didn’t pay anyone. At the Grill I think he came this time and that was it, at the Beach (Monte Carlo Beach, luxury hotel on the beach) never. He went on his own with Briatore but I don’t know if to a hotel that cost less.”
