The president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti has no intention of resigning. He told his lawyer Stefano Savi yesterday in the house in Ameglia where he is under house arrest. But the investigation into corruption in Liguria meanwhile focuses on money from waste companies. From which the governor would have received 195 thousand euros over four years. And while Fratelli d’Italia is inclined to wait at least a month before asking for Toti’s resignation, another political front is opening up. Which involves the League. Under the microscope are two disbursements of 15 thousand euros each from the entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli to the Carroccio between May and August 2022. In an intercepted conversation Spinelli speaks with the president of the Port Authority of Genoa Paolo Signorini and says: «At the League I made A bank transfer”.
Toti’s resistance
For now, Toti has no intention of leaving the governor’s seat. “I am calm about my actions but I cannot know how all the people who move in my name in the area move”, is one of the thoughts reported today by the Corriere della Sera. And again: «I didn’t take bribes, I didn’t pursue any private interest. If there were any misunderstandings, I will clarify them.” The former Mediaset player wants to answer the questions of the preliminary investigation judge Paola Faggioni during the preliminary interrogation, scheduled for tomorrow. She wants to do it to then file a petition on personal liberty. And then possibly an appeal to the Review Court. It would be the first step to regain political viability. The print he says that his wife Syria Magri was with him. “They weren’t bribes, but I was governing,” he would always say in his defence. «Everything I did was to improve Liguria», is his thesis.
The transfers to the League
Meanwhile, the picture regarding Spinelli is better outlined from the wiretaps. Daily fact reports on a project by the entrepreneur with Luigi Aponte’s MSC (not under investigation) to divide up the areas of the Bulk Terminal at the port of Genoa. Spinelli is at 55%, Aponte at 45%. The idea is to dismantle it by merging the western side with the areas formerly owned by Spinelli and the east with those of MSC. However, the project costs 190 million euros. The two hope for the intervention of the Pnrr. And they talk about a meeting with Giancarlo Giorgetti, Minister of Development at the time. «He is ready to do it on his own (the project, ed)», says Spinelli. Which, when Signorini proves sceptical, he replies: “We made them a bank transfer too, then we’ll make them another one, don’t worry.” In fact, in the end 30 thousand euros will arrive in the Carroccio between May and August.
The 200 thousand euros at Spinelli’s house
Meanwhile, the Guardia di Finanza found 200 thousand euros in cash at Spinelli’s home. This is part of the 570 thousand that the investigating judge had ordered to be seized. The ordinance states that among the financiers of Change, the foundation headed by Toti, and the Giovanni Toti Committee, in addition to port entrepreneurs there are also those who deal with waste and landfills. Like Pietro Colucci, an entrepreneur from Campania who in 2021 managed some landfills in the province of Savona intended for the disposal of non-hazardous special waste with the recovery of materials and electricity from biogas. According to investigators, between 2016 and 2020 Colucci, through his companies, had financed Toti with 195 thousand euros.
In that same period «the companies attributable to the Colucci group – we read in the ordinance – had as their institutional interlocutor the Liguria Region, responsible for issuing authorizations for the management of landfills. All the financing coming from the companies of the group attributable to Colucci and directed to the Change Committee and the Giovanni Toti Liguria Committee had not been approved by the respective corporate bodies and, in some cases, had not even been included in the balance sheet”.
Voters angry about the promised work
In the papers we can also read the complaints about the work promised and not arrived in exchange for the vote. GS, which is part of the Riesi community, asks the municipal councilor Stefano Anzalone, who he helped get elected. A series of messages ranging from September 2020 to February 2021. « Hi Stefano, thank you for your commitment to having Global Service contact me but unfortunately with my back pain and sciatica problem I cannot carry out that type of task. Myself, my wife and my son are at home without work. I, relatives and friends supported you, 32 safe votes! I need a safe place to feel comfortable and a decent salary. Thanks to the grades I made you get, you settled down. We are all at home in the family. I hope you will reflect on this. I’ve never bothered you, at home I’m behind on rent and bills. I beg you on my knees if you help me find a decent job,” he writes. Anzalone doesn’t answer him.
