Stefano Stefani, former senator and former treasurer of the Northern League, died at the age of 85 in Costabissara in the province of Vicenza. An early Northern League member, very close to Umberto Bossi, who linked his name to that phase of the party that preceded the advent of Matteo Salvini. A Venetian entrepreneur who was a […]
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He died at the age of 85, in Costabissara in the province of Vicenza, Stefano Stefaniformer senator and former treasurer of the North league. A first-time Northern League player, very close to Umberto Bossiwhich linked its name to that phase of the party that preceded the advent of Matteo Salvini. A Venetian entrepreneur who was aware of many of the mysteries linked to the 49 million euros squandered under the administrative direction of his predecessor, Pasquale Belsitoprotagonist of the great scandal he sanctioned Bossi’s exit from the scene and the coming to power of Roberto Maroni.
Stefani had been out of active politics for years now, yet he was a protagonist of the era in which the Senatur brandished the word Padania like a club, against Roman power and the Italy that extends south of the Po river. In 2012 Stefani he became treasurer in via Bellerio, when Bossi resigned and in his place a triumvirate composed of Roberto Maroni, the current minister Roberto Calderoli and Vicenza Manuela Dal Lago. He held the position until 2014 and had to manage one of the league’s most financially turbulent seasons.
Precisely on the occasion of a court hearing where he testified on the fraud against the state, had expressed harsh judgments towards Belsito. “He is dishonest, unfortunately he is still alive” he said, leaving the courtroom. To ward off the journalists’ questions, he expressed himself in this way colorful and sarcastic on the destination of the money that disappeared from the League’s accounts. “We had a lot of putts around and we always had a hard dick,” he said, paraphrasing a Bossian expression. Then he added, more seriously: “All expenses are under my management reported and certified. I would also like to know why they are looking for the money Luxembourg”.
In an interview he declared: “After the scandal they were spent money in a scientific way and with everyone’s consent. I pointed out to Maroni and Salvini several times, both in public and in private, that too much was being spent too quickly. I was told that we could not do otherwise, because at that moment we were in the face”. He had explained that after the resignation of the Bossian “magic circle”, the League had begun to pay hundreds of thousands of euros for consultancy to professionals close to the Northern League secretariat.
That storm had only touched him. Instead he had other legal misadventures. He had been involved in an investigation into the construction of a tourist village in Umag, Istria, nicknamed “the village of the Northern League”, which had left a financial chasm. He was tried and acquitted in 2011. In 2000, when he was undersecretary, he had been part (together with the former Northern League treasurer Maurizio Balocchi) of the bank’s board of directors Credieuronord, then taken over by Popolare di Lodi di Gianpiero Fiorani, when it was on the verge of collapse. In 2007 he was investigated for money laundering in public funding Italian newspaperbut his position was also archived due to the impossibility of using telephone interceptions concerning him.
Stefani started getting involved in politics in the early 1990s. From 1992 to 1994 he was provincial secretary of the Northern League in Vicenza. In 1994 he was a candidate for the Senate, in the majority constituency of Vicenza, being elected with 42 percent of the votes. of votes. He has held positions of undersecretary for productive activities and the environment in as many Berlusconi governments. He was a deputy from 1996 to 2006, a senator from 2006 to 2008, and again a deputy from 2008 to 2013. Stefani’s figure was remembered by Matteo Salvini in the federal council. The Venetian governor Luca Zaia he said: “It’s very bad news, a great piece of the history of the institutions of our territory, which has given a lot to the Veneto and the country, is gone.”
