A few days before the elections new judicial troubles arrive for the PDL. This time there are two prominent former local administrators on the scene. The most striking case concerns Raffaele Fitto, president of the Puglia Region from 2000 to 2005, Minister for Relations with the Regions and Territorial Cohesion in the third Berlusconi government and currently Pidiellino leader in the Chamber in Puglia. Yesterday was sentenced at first instance to four years for corruption, illegal party financing and abuse of office. The penalty also includes a five-year ban from public office and a one-year ban from dealing with the public administration.
The judges of the Criminal Court established that Fitto, in the 2005 electoral campaign, received a bribe of 500 thousand euros by the Roman entrepreneur Giampaolo Angelucci (sentenced to three years and six months for corruption and illegal financing). In exchange, he managed to award a 198 million euro contract for the management of assisted-living residences to the Tosinvest company. According to the judiciary, the former minister is also guilty of abuse of office for allocating funds initially intended for sports facilities to speakers. Fitto was instead acquitted of the charge of embezzlement and of another charge of abuse of office. In all, the trial involved 30 defendants and 13 were sentenced. The sentence came on the eve of Silvio Berlusconi's visit to Bari for the electoral campaign.
The second judicial case that has come to shake the PDL concerns Robert Formigoni. The former President of the Lombardy Region was accused of conspiracy and corruption in the investigation into the Maugeri foundation. The Milan prosecutor's office will also ask for the indictment of another 17 people.
According to the prosecutors, Formigoni was the "promoter and organizer" of the criminal association and guaranteed favors to the Maugeri Foundation between 1997 and 2011 and to the San Raffaele between 2002 and 2011. In return, the former governor pocketed "utility" for 8 million euros: not only the now famous exotic trips and yacht excursions, but also "sums of cash - write the magistrates - periodically delivered in Milan from Daccò to Formigoni for an unspecified amount and, in any case, overall not less than approximately 270 thousand euros" . Pierangelo Daccò, a great friend of Celeste, is the fixer already sentenced to 10 years for aiding the financial collapse of the San Raffaele.
“I thought they were also accusing me of murder and massacre, I can declare myself satisfied – commented Formigoni -. After a year and a half I will be able to know the acts. But nothing new emerges that the world did not already know. The timing of the Prosecutor's Office is very efficient, what is not done to try to cover up the Montepaschi scandal of the left. Within 24 hours Scaroni and Orsi are indicted, Pollari is condemned, Ilva continues to be destroyed and the documents filed for Formigoni”.
As for the sums that the Lombardy Region has paid to the San Raffaele and the Maugeri Foundation, “they correspond to the euro cent of the services provided by these two institutes to citizens – continued Formigoni -, according to the rules of the National Health System. The papers disclosed today by the Public Prosecutor's Office do not demonstrate that funds have been unduly disbursed to these institutions and to any other health institution in the Lombardy Region".
