The balance of the operation by the Guardia di Finanza in Rome in the context of an investigation for corruption on Anas contracts is ten people arrested. Five managers and officials of Anas Spa of the General Directorate of Rome, three entrepreneurs, owners of primary public works contractors, a lawyer and a politician, Luigi Meduri, undersecretary of the Ministry of Infrastructures during the second Prodi government, suspended by the Democratic Party, are in handcuffs after arrest.
"My feeling reading the papers, which are mainly, but not only, wiretaps, is the depressing feeling of the everyday life of corruption". This was stated by the chief prosecutor of Rome, Giuseppe Pignatone, at the press conference on the arrests. "The main suspect (called the 'Black Lady') goes to the office to work - reported Pignatone - but her job is to manage the continuous flow of corruption: the bag is always open, someone arrives and puts an envelope inside . He also treats his collaborators badly, who are not considered up to dealing with entrepreneurs to collect bribes. The sensation of reading these papers is the everyday life of corruption seen as a normal thing".
According to the investigation, Accroianò would have asked Meduri to help her brother's political career in Calabria. In exchange he would have offered jobs in Anas. "Meduri was Accroglianò's political interface - explained Colonel Cosimo Di Gesù of the Rome tax police unit -. At stake was a package of votes in support of his brother's candidacy for the Calabria regional council in November 2014. The in return for the failure to be elected on the UDC lists, Accroglianò would have intended to hold an important position in a company owned by the Calabria region. Faced with these requests, Meduri asked, on the one hand, for the hiring of two surveyors in Anas, with the exploitation of a public company as a patronage mechanism to encourage hiring. On the other hand, he acted as an intermediary with arrested entrepreneurs, Costanzo and Bosco, with respect to the delay in the payment of bribes ”.
Meduri would also have played the role of mediator in an episode of corruption involving the top management of the road company. According to the indictment, the political exponent conveyed to two entrepreneurs precise requests for corruption coming from the managers of the public administration. “Meduri certainly has a not indifferent support function – writes the investigating judge Giulia Proto in the over 100 pages of the precautionary measure – since he himself calls entrepreneurs to their illicit duties if they pay late on payments. It is Antonella Accroglianò herself who says she has recovered one of the corrupt tranches thanks to Meduri to whom she turns when 'those' disappear. And on the other hand, the suggestion of – squeezing them around the hips – to recover the money comes precisely from the politician”.
According to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, “those who bribe or get bribed not only steal points from growth but also steal a piece of Italy's future. Of course, full respect for the suspects, all the guarantees of the case, all the ritual things that are of substance not only ritual", but "the central point is that on our part there is not only the will to clean up in a extraordinary but whoever, within public companies, in this case Anas, is found stealing, must not only pay but must be kicked out without any form of forgiveness”.
