The CEO of Iren Paolo Emilio Signorini and the port entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli are also involved in the investigation by the DDA of Genoa and the Guardia di Finanza into an alleged bribe ring. The operation comes one month before the European elections. Sangiuliano: “I’m a guarantee”. The mayor of Milan Sala: “It’s difficult to comment. I have a personal relationship with him”
The president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti Since this morning he has been under house arrest, as part of an operation carried out by the Genoa Anti-Mafia District Directorate and the Financial Police. The accusation against the governor is that of corruption.
In addition to Toti, the port entrepreneur also ended up under house arrest, again on charges of corruption Aldo Spinelli, in the past president of the Genoa and Livorno football teams. While the former president of the Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea was subjected to precautionary custody in prison Paolo Emilio Signorini, now CEO of the multi-utility Iren. He too is accused of corruption.
Toti’s lawyer: “He expects to be able to explain everything. He won’t resign”
“I spoke to the president, my client is calm and plans to explain everything”Toti’s lawyer said this morning, Stefano Savi leaving the apartment together with the governor and the Financial Police. The president of Liguria, Savi said “will continue to work. As we have been able to see up to this moment, these are all facts to which we can give an explanation within the context of a legitimate administrative activity for the public interest. There is no talk of resignation. It suspends the function and then we’ll see what happens. The process is still to be done. We see the documents, we read them and we try to understand how to build the defense elements in the best possible way”, added the lawyer. Also explaining that “the president is calm and calm. He wants to go through the process explaining everything in detail.”
The other people involved in the Genoa investigation
The investigation focuses on an alleged system of kickbacks and kickbacks, with payments made by entrepreneurs to Toti to overcome certain obstacles in terms of concessions, for example in the construction sector or within the Port of Genoa. In addition to Toti, Spinelli and Signorini, nine other people were also affected by precautionary measures, including the head of Toti’s Cabinet in the Region, Matteo Cozzani, who is accused of the crime of electoral corruption (in collaboration with President Toti). TO Francesco Moncadadirector of Esselunga, corruption against Toti is contested.
The operation was carried out this morning, announced the Genoa Public Prosecutor’s Office. Searches are still underway, including inside the headquarters of the Liguria Region, in Piazza De’ Ferrari. A seizure of approximately 570 thousand euros was also ordered against the entrepreneurs involved. The arrests come just over a month before the European elections. And in the final period of the second mandate of Toti, who has been president since June 2015.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary Anti-Mafia commission, chaired by the Honourable Chiara Colosimoasked the prosecutor’s office for the investigation documents.
The reactions of politicians
The first reactions from the world of politics have arrived on the investigation by the Genoa DDA. “I know nothing about it and I am very respectful of the autonomy and independence of the judiciary”, said the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. Who said he was a guaranteeist, because “it is in the spirit of our Constitution”.
“We have faith in the judiciary and we are guaranteed, always: we are certain that the president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti will be able to prove his innocence”, said the president of Noi Moderati Maurizio Lupi.
“I am absolutely disconcerted. I am absolutely amazed. I am absolutely vouching for all the people who are subjected to any type of investigation. In this case, knowing Giovanni, I consider him an absolutely serious, decent, honest person, so the dismay is even greater”, commented the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana. “It’s sad news, the usual phrase is let’s wait for the judiciary to take its course because we have to respect the decisions of the judiciary. I have only one reflection: if it were confirmed that these are events of 2020, an arrest 25 days before the elections European elections…Honestly, after 4 years, what changed a month before or a month after the elections? This leaves me wondering”, is the opinion of Francesco Roccapresident of the Lazio Region.
Giuseppe Conte’s position is different and he invites Toti “to draw the consequences to keep the institutions safe. The investigation has just come out, there are precise facts and serious accusations”. The mayor of Milan Beppe Sala also expressed his opinion on the case. “It’s difficult to comment, in fact I’d say it’s impossible. I know Toti well and I also saw him recently in Liguria, I also have a personal relationship with him so beyond this how can you comment on something like that?“, Sala told reporters.
