2024-05-07 07:24:46
The earthquake has been hitting Genoa, Spezia and the whole of Liguria since dawn today, May 7th. And according to the forces deployed by the Financial Police, it is causing an entire system to collapse: on the one hand, favors for companies and entrepreneurs, on the other, the return in hard cash.
Except that for the Genoese prosecutors, for the investigating judge and for the economic and financial police unit of the yellow flames it is not a question of normal financing, but of crimes. Of wads. The president of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti, at the end of his second term he ends up under house arrest. For the accusation he received 74 thousand and 100 cash, as well as various promises of financing.
Same fate for the man who held the port in his hands for decades and who opened his wallet for the accusation, the entrepreneur responsible for large port terminals Aldo Spinellialso known in Italy for having been president of Genoa and Livorno.
However, the former president of the Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea ends up directly in prison Paolo Emilio Signorini, who is now CEO of the multi-utility giant Iren. The president of the Liguria Region himself, suspended from his position under the Severino law, was expected in Ventimiglia today: he was supposed to meet Flavio Briatore on the occasion of the opening of a Twiga on the Riviera, one of those events that have characterized glamorous Liguria and the red carpets emblems of Toti’s decade.
None of this: the President of the Region, together with the others arrested, was taken from the hotel in Sanremo to his home in Genoa, and then moved to the Gdf barracks in Lungomare Canepa: he only told reporters “We are very calm”.
In the double maxi investigation that runs between Genoa and La Spezia – in the Ligurian east at the center of the investigations are Toti’s right-hand man and his chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, and in this vein the accusations also concern electoral corruption and vote swapping with representatives of Cosa Nostra – some moves that have characterized the “Toto” politics of recent years. The preventive seizures, for now, amount to 570 thousand euros.
The extension of the Bulk Terminal
Starting from the thirty-year extension of the concession entrusted to Spinelli for the areas of the Bulk Terminal, in December 2021, one of the strategic docks of the port of Genoa. Both inside Palazzo San Giorgio – the historic headquarters of the Port Authority of Genoa – and in the environments of the terminal operators, in those days many wondered how it was possible to entrust a concession for such a long period to an operator who in recent years cannot boast numbers exceptional, indeed. Especially in the ro-ro sector, i.e. (roll on-roll off) goods loaded on the beds of trucks and lorries. Five days after the renewal of the Bulk Terminal, transfers totaling 40 thousand euros are sent from four Spinelli companies to the Giovanni Toti Liguria Committee.
The colonies of Celle Ligure
Another “gift” to Spinelli, according to the prosecution, are the Bergamo colonies of Celle Ligure. A complex located in one of the most beautiful and exclusive areas of Liguria, with blocks of flats immersed in a forest and sea view, plus a private beach beyond the Aurelia. Work on a one hundred million euro real estate operation has been underway for a couple of years. Money with which the Punta dell’Olmo company of the father and son entrepreneurs Aldo e Roberto Spinelli (the latter hit by an interdictory measure), seeks to create a super luxury citadel with many apartments for the few who will be able to afford them and a tourist accommodation facility. To do all this, he needed to get his hands on the beach. The operation, the prosecutor always says, was a perfect success.
The Esselunga supermarket
Having landed in Genoa, having overcome endless battles also told in the book “Scythe and cart” by the founder Bernardo Caprotti, after having opened a first supermarket in the Albaro district, Esselunga is now also present a stone’s throw from the terminals, in the San Benigno district. To get to the construction sites (where there were also two accidents) and to the inauguration a year ago, the investigators said “shortcuts” were followed, to use a polite term. And not only for the Genoa store, but also for the Savona one.
The birth of the investigation
The investigation that exploded today has its own backstory more than 4 years ago. It’s January 22, 2020, a couple of months before the start of the Covid nightmare: the Change Foundation headed by the governor of Liguria Giovanni Toti ends up in the sights of Bankitalia for some financing which, according to UIF officials ( Financial Intelligence Unit) had the characteristics to become SOS, or “Reports of suspicious transactions”. They automatically set in motion investigations by the financial police and investigations by the competent prosecutor’s office. But the real turning point, however, comes from many other elements worthy of further investigation, which makes the investigation “swell” up to today’s arrests. They come from La Spezia, in a connected procedure in the context of which other raids were started at dawn today. From here, interceptions, shadowing and observations. Thus the investigation, initially focused on hypotheses of electoral corruption, subsequently developed on specific events regarding financing deemed illicit.
The bribes
In the investigation which was signed by four prosecutors in Genoa and followed in its development by five magistrates – the chief prosecutor Nicola Piacente, The added Vittorio Ranieri Miniati e Francesco Pinto, i pm Federico Manotti e Luca Monteverde – according to the prosecution and the judge for preliminary investigations Paola Faggioni bribes of all kinds were paid. As communicated by the Prosecutor’s Office itself, «the President of the Liguria Region is accused of having accepted the promises of various loans from Aldo Spinelli and Roberto Spinelli and received a total of 74,100 euros».
And again: «The president of the Liguria Region and Matteo Cozzani are accused of having accepted the promise of Francesco Moncada(board member of Esselunga SpA, under investigation and banned, husband of Marina Caprotti (outside the investigation) of an illicit loan represented by the hidden payment of some advertising passages on the panel displayed on the Colombo Terrace for the municipal election campaign of 12.6 .2022, against the commitment to unblock two pending Esselunga practices in the Region relating to the opening of two sales points in Sestri Ponente and Savona respectively”.
Naturally, for the Prosecutor’s Office it is not a question of clear financing; also because negotiations often took place, based on wiretaps, on Spinelli’s boat, always ready to “find a solution” to issues related to concessions and authorizations. In exchange for the “gifts” which are then contained in the charges.
Toti escorted by the Gdf with his spokesperson Jessica Nicolini (photo Leoni)
Rolex, tennis, casino chips and Las Vegas
It is above all the payments from Spinelli to Signorini that render the plastic, indeed decidedly material, representation of the exchanges targeted by the Prosecutor’s Office, from 15 thousand euros in cash to 22 luxury stays in Monte Carlo at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlofrom the final of the international tennis tournament “Rolex Monte Carlo Masters” at sheets to place bets at the Monte Carlo Casino. But also a Chanel bag, a bracelet in gold by Cartier brand; and the possibility of having, during a planned trip, a Las Vegasof a large amount of money, drawing from the availability of Aldo Spinelli’s credit cards”.
The thread on electoral corruption
Then there is the accusation of electoral corruption in relation to the latest regional elections, which primarily involves Cozzani. According to the District Anti-Mafia Directorate «to Matteo Cozzani as regional coordinator of the electoral campaign for the “Let’s change with Toti President” list, Italo Maurizio Testa and Arturo Angelo Testaas representatives of the Riesi community of Genoa, the crime of electoral corruption is contested (in collaboration with the president of the Liguria Region, for whom no precautionary/interdictive measure was requested in relation to this crime).
Because «on the occasion of the electoral consultations of the Liguria Region on 20 and 21 September 2020 they are accused of having promised jobs and the change of public housing to convey the votes of voters belonging to the Riesi community of Genoa (at least 400 preferences ) and in any case Sicilians towards the “Let’s change with Toti President” list. According to the DDA, the two Testas are part of the Cammarata clan. The former Genoese trade unionist is linked to them, again the accusation Venanzio Maurici. The regional councilor is being investigated in this vein Stefano Anzalone.
The Palmaria establishment and the hotel for friends
It doesn’t end here, because the investigators, the chief prosecutor of La Spezia, are still in the Ligurian east Antonio Patrono and the pm Elisa Lorishave targeted other businesses linked to Cozzani (Matteo was mayor of Portovenere) in particular with his brother Filippo and with the entrepreneurs Raffaele and Mirko Palettei, who took over the luxurious Grand Hotel in 2014 and are now working to open an establishment on the island of Palmaria.
It was in the hotel that the two brothers would have hosted personalities and politicians linked to Toti, and then claimed favors such as the new areas of Palmaria. All the protagonists of this story are under house arrest.
The man from the Boat Show
But the Cozzani family, again according to the accusation, was in business that was anything but legitimate even with Saverio Cecchi, president of Ucina Confindustria Nautica and in his capacity the soul of the Genoa International Boat Show, the largest fair in Liguria and the driving force of Ligurian maritime affairs.
Is Cecchi That Alessandro Campagna, commercial director of the Show, are now under investigation, because they allegedly favored Filippo Cozzani in the contract for a supply of drinks inside the Show, just after Matteo Cozzani had guaranteed greater public contributions to the Show itself as head of the regional cabinet.
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