The president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti filed a 17-page memorandum in support of the investigative interrogation he had today before prosecutors Federico Manotti and Luca Monteverde, together with the deputy Vittorio Ranieri Miniati. Words written to «explain the political and moral lines which, since I assumed the honor of leading the Liguria Region, have always informed the activity pursued by the Regional Council with the sole perspective of serving the good and common interest of the Ligurian citizens and of their institutions.” In his memory Toti specifies that “there is a firm will on my part to collaborate in the reconstruction of the truth” to restore “to my figure as a man and servant of the State the dignity that I have constantly tried to preserve”. «In my political career I have always tried to pursue the public interest which is the ultimate aim of my political action. This aim is achieved not through opposition to the claims of private individuals but rather through the conveyance of these towards the interest of the community and the territory, a way in which the best essence of the public interest is achieved”.
“Every euro collected had a political destination: no contribution produced personal enrichment or benefit to me, to other members of my party or to private third parties”, the governor declared again in the memorandum delivered to the prosecutors at the end of the interrogation. «Every donation of money – he added – was credited with traceable methods and reported. Likewise, all expenses incurred have been reported and publicized in terms of the law and beyond. The budgets and reports were (and still are) published on the websites of the political organizations in support of me.”
River interrogation
There are over 100 questions that the prosecutors have prepared for the interrogation of Giovanni Toti. The governor of Liguria entered the Guardia di Finanza barracks at the port of Genoa at 11am, where he was summoned by the anti-mafia prosecutor Luca Monteverde and the deputy prosecutor Vittorio Miniati, who accuse him of corruption and vote-swapping. Since last May 7, Toti has been under house arrest as part of the investigation by the prosecutors of Genoa and La Spezia. At the moment, the Ligurian governor’s lawyers have not filed defense briefs. But the documents could be attached after the interrogation. The interrogation, which was already expected to be long, could last at least until the evening. But it is not excluded that it could be interrupted and resumed tomorrow morning.
The accusations against Giovanni Toti
There are three charges that the investigators have accused Toti of. Starting with a round of bribes, with which the Ligurian governor allegedly favored the entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli and the Esselunga group. Then there is the financing of his electoral committees. The prosecutors claim that Spinelli would have financed Toti’s electoral campaigns in exchange for the renewal of the thirty-year concession of the Rinfuse Terminal, in addition to the interest in allocating a part of the public beach of Punta Olmo in Celle Ligure for the construction of 42 apartments hypothesized by Spinelli. The Esselunga financing, on the other hand, would have served to unblock the two procedures relating to the opening of two supermarkets in Savona and Sestri Levante. Toti will also have to clarify whether there have been reports of an exchange vote with the Testa twins, the “Riesini” who in the Certosa district of Genoa for the 2020 Regionals would have controlled around 400 preferences. Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, is under investigation on this point, accused of exchanging votes with the mafia.
The case of the three transfers from the committee to his account
Toti must also clarify the case of the three transfers, for a total of 55 thousand euros, which between 10 June and 20 October 2022, i.e. between the Administrative and Political departments, passed from the coffers of his electoral committee to his personal current account . Toti’s lawyer, Stefano Savi, has already anticipated that that money was used to pay 24 thousand euros in compensation to Raffaella Paita, now a senator of Italia Viva, who had sued him for defamation. For that affair, the La Spezia court had condemned Toti, who would then have paid from his committee’s coffers.
