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Messages between managers about the conditions of the viaduct before the disaster would demonstrate awareness of the risk.
Genoa – We started with the collapse of two acoustic barriers in the road: Autostrade knew they were poorly designed, but preferred to risk them falling because it cost too much to change them all. But it goes much further: a system that enriched the group’s pockets and saved on maintenance. In which some of the top executives of the company wrote that the bridge cables were corroded, as can be seen from one of the wiretapping the phone line reported in the car that motivates the arrest of the former director general of Autostrade and Atlantia Giovanni Castellucci. Elements that for the Prosecutor’s Office are among the overwhelming evidence of the mother investigation, which on the collapse of the Morandi Bridge and its 43 deaths, and anticipates the final confrontation between the prosecution and the defense for the evidentiary fact, which must know the causes of the collapse.
“They thought about maximizing profits”
These are the words of the investigating judge Paola Faggioni: “Serious criminal conduct related to a business policy aimed at maximizing profits, derived from the State concession the reduction and delay of expenses necessary for maintenance of the motorway network, entrusted in concession to the detriment of public safety. Faggioni, thus motivates the arrest of Castellucci and some of his closest collaborators. But they seem to be a prelude to what for the Prosecutor’s Office is the ultimate goal: to show that the Morandi Bridge fell due to poor maintenance.
The measures of two days ago come at a very delicate moment. The investigation of the mother, that of the massacre of the 43 dead, is suspended pending the presentation of the report on the collapse of the bridge. And his card, the defense, had already played it a few weeks ago: Autostrade had prepared and asked to acquire, before final conclusions, a study that affirms that the Polcevera viaduct suffered from original defects, impossible to discover with any instrument. The measures on noise barriers can be read as a preview of the prosecution’s response.
By the Genoa ProsecutorIt is a system that has led the group companies to gain profits and cut maintenance. It is no coincidence that the investigation of sound-absorbing media includes interceptions in which this concept is admitted by the same higher levels, even by non-investigated persons, such as Gianni Mion, president of Edizioni Holding, the safe of Benettons, a shareholder of Atlanti , which in turn controls Autostrade: “The real big problem is that we have done less maintenance. And the more time passed, the less we did … And Gilberto (Benetton, who died in 2018) and the whole family were happy … ».
Words similar to those expressed by Roberto Tomasi, Giovanni Castellucci’s successor, expression of change: “Since 1999 Atlantia has raised 9 billion in dividends.” Ultimately, this is the theme destined to be repeated from now on.
“Grim outlook, unsafe network”
It is a bleak panorama – writes the investigating judge Faggioni – from which the insecurity of the network, viaducts, tunnels and containment barriers emerges ». The point is that the management of the issue of the acoustic barrier were the same people in charge who dealt with the issue of the Morandi Bridge. And in this last order the prosecutors, coordinated by Attorney General Franco Cozzi, insert a message that they consider one of the most important evidence even in the main trial, that of the collapse. It is about a message dated June 25, 2018, or just two months before the massacre that will end with 43 lives. Paolo Berti, manager responsible for the sector to which the maintenance refers, asks if it is possible to “inject dehumidified air” to “remove the humidity”. Michele Donferri Mitelli, his subordinate, responds “that the cables are already corroded”. “Stica … I’m going,” says Berti. For the judges, this exchange is already a test of the awareness of the higher echelons of society of what was happening, a thesis that denies what the Autostrade consultant is trying to say. On August 14, the bridge falls seriously. And Berti deletes all the chats that are nevertheless on Donferri’s phone.
Aspi: “Double maintenance”
That the issue is very hot is confirmed by the statements of Castellucci’s lawyers: “The two events (the barriers and the Morandi bridge) are completely different.” As for maintenance, Aspi vindicates the extraordinary plan put in place by the new management: “Maintenance has doubled. In 2020, more than 650 million were allocated and 588 tunnels were inspected.
