Documents, computers and telephones taken over by the financial police in the investigation which revolves around the inheritance of Marella Caracciolo, widow of the lawyer Gianni Agnelli, remain seized.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, the Court of Review confirmed the provision issued by the public prosecutors on March 6 and rejected the appeal of the brothers John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann and Gianluca Ferrero, the family’s historic accountant. The judges have reserved the right to present the reasons for the decision in the next few days but, from the provisions, it is clear that at the moment the line of investigation in which the Turin prosecutor’s office hypothesizes a fraud against the State in relation to the “false representation of circumstances affecting the tax regime of the inheritance matter” after the death of Donna Marella, grandmother of the Elkann brothers.
The prosecutor’s thesis is that due to the construction of the woman’s fictitious residence in Switzerland, upon her death in 2019, the inheritance tax was not paid in Italy as it should have been. During the hearing before the judges, the defences had denied the circumstance, adding that at most it was an administrative offense and not a crime: “We are naturally disappointed by the Court’s decision and remain convinced of the solidity of the legal arguments we have supported – comment Paolo Siniscalchi, Federico Cecconi and Carlo Re, lawyers for the Elkann – We are, however, awaiting the filing of the reasons to decide whether to appeal to the Court of Cassation”.
