No resignation, the Ligurian council rallies around the suspended governor Giovanni Toti. Almost two months after the arrest of the President of the Liguria Region – still under house arrest in his home in Amelia, as part of the investigation into corruption in Liguria – the first political-administrative meeting between Toti and the members of his arrived.
No step backwards, rather the encouragement to continue on the path traced, awaiting the return of the governor elected to lead the Region. This is what emerges from a long day in La Spezia during which Toti met the interim president, acting since his suspension on 7 May, Alessandro Piana, the councilor for urban planning Marco Scajola and the councilor for civil protection and Toti loyalist, Giacomo Giampedrone.
It’s not just about encouragement: the impression is that Toti’s case in some way can be a ‘school’, and the intention is to resist without giving way, not only to demonstrate that he has acted – as he claims from the beginning defense – in full compliance with regulatory provisions, but also to encourage once and for all to definitively address the issue of financing parties or groups.
“There is a problem – Toti’s lawyer Stefano Savi also explained – which concerns the methods of financing politics which, in reality, after this trial are a topic that should be addressed in a general way and not only in particular for the repercussions that he may have. The concept we have expressed is this: the requests for money have always been made scrupulously within the rules that regulate the matter”.
Meanwhile, on the meeting front, yesterday’s meeting will only be the first: Toti is preparing for at least two more face-to-face meetings – all authorized by the investigating judge – with the local and national political leaders who support his majority in the Region.
The topic of resignation remained in the background, a sort of stone guest.
Basically it wasn’t talked about, but it was talked about, as was predictable.
The discussion revolved around the absolute agreement of the parties to confirm their confidence, in the state, in governor Toti while waiting for him to clarify his position.
If Giovanni Toti’s political viability “is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, both in his role as president and as a regional civic list which we believe has all the weight evidently not only to be represented today but also in future elections”, he said afterwards the meeting with the councilor and right-hand man Giacomo Giampedrone, the intention is to move forward “peacefully until the Review, until the Court of Cassation, only in the negative case which we do not hope we will eventually make all the necessary assessments”.
But Toti’s defense also looks beyond the review.
“We are preparing – summarized the lawyer Savi – we will repeat our reasons regarding the unfoundedness of the precautionary measure in place and we will ask for a revocation of the measure or at least we will ask that it be modified in a less afflictive way”.
The path is already written and, in case of refusal, the appeal to the Supreme Court is already ready.
