The Minister of the Interior, Angelino Alfano, is being investigated by the Rome prosecutor's office for abuse of office. The crime was allegedly committed on December 23, when the Council of Ministers gave the go-ahead for the transfer to Isernia of the then prefect of Enna, Fernando Guida. Together with Alfano, the Deputy Minister Filippo Bubbico, the private secretary Ugo Malagnino, the former senator of the Democratic Party Vladimiro Crisafulli and the president of the Kore University of Enna, Cataldo Salerno, are also under investigation.
Prefect Guida, on 28 October, had started the procedures and investigations which were concluded, after his transfer, with the commissioner of the Kore Foundation, which manages the University of Enna. On February XNUMX, the prefecture of Enna dissolved the administrative bodies of the university by decree and appointed three commissioners who will remain in office for six months (extendable): the prefect Francesca Adelaide Garufi and professors Carlo Colapietro and Angelo Paletta. The procedure had been initiated after the proposal, made by the Foundation for the free university of central Sicily Kore, to amend its statute.
The Kore Foundation is also at the center of attention of the Enna prosecutor who has opened a file challenging the members of the former board of directors for the crime of embezzlement: according to the indictment, they received a contribution of one million euros in 2012 from the municipality of Enna and they would never have paid it into the university bank account but into that of the Foundation. However, last February XNUMX, the Court of Review of Enna ordered the release of the Foundation's account, deeming that the crime of embezzlement did not exist.
“The story we are talking about is a stillborn case – said Alfano -, surpassed and denied by the facts. I received a communication which, since I don't have access to the documents correctly, lets me guess that it relates to the transfer of the prefect of Enna to Isernia, while he was preparing to commission the Foundation that manages the University of Enna. The transfer of the prefect of Enna took place in a completely ordinary way together with many others, without having received any solicitation or pressure, and with the full agreement of the interested party, as per our practice where possible; the start of the commissioning procedure of the Foundation by the prefect had already taken place with the full knowledge and input from me and from the offices headed by me; the deputy prefect vicar, during his reign, obviously proceeded to complete the work and, in fact, the commissioning was carried out on 30 January ”.
The deputy prefect, continued the minister, “was personally stimulated by me precisely in this direction during a meeting with the prefects of Sicily and, subsequently, my offices also intervened; the parties concerned have already filed an appeal with the Sicilian Administrative Court against the receivership that I ordered; the new prefect of Enna has already taken office; the old prefect of Enna has already been in service for over a month in Isernia. The prosecutor of Enna, who has retired, had argued with me over the transfer of the prefect just on the eve of his well-deserved rest. If he had had the patience to wait for the times of the administrative process of exclusive competence of the prefecture, he would have seen the conclusion he desired ”.
And in any case, concludes the minister, "it is a matter of exclusive pertinence of the executive power and that is an act of High Administration such as the movement of Prefects operated by the Government".
