Absolution for all defendants in the trial against Cavet. The consortium, 75% controlled by Impregilo, had been accused of environmental damage in relation to the works for the Bologna-Florence high-speed line. The main crimes charged included the management of illegal landfills for excavated materials and the illicit disposal of special waste. At the head of the consortium between 1998 and 2001 was Alberto Rubegni, current CEO of Impregilo. The operative part of the sentence was read yesterday evening by the Court of Appeal of Florence, after many hours of deliberation. The 150 million euro compensation payable by Cavet was also cancelled.
The story began in 2001, when the Florence prosecutor's office seized the construction sites of the high-speed railway line. The first instance proceeding ended in March 2009 with the convictions, while the line went into operation a few months later. At the end of the first trial, in addition to Rubegni, 26 people (out of 38 defendants) were convicted, including employees of the Cavet consortium and subcontractors and owners of quarries and landfills.