Fondi Lega, other reports of suspicious operations from the banking and anti-money laundering world reached the Milan prosecutor’s office

The investigation on accountants seems to reserve the opening of other fronts. The explosion in the summer of the case, with the arrest of Luca Sostegni July 15 as part of the purchase and sale of a shed cut at double the price to the Lombardy Film Commission, sparked the memory of many. These days come to the Milan Prosecutor’s Office various reports from the banking world suspicious transactions of businessmen with a counterpart or the Lega or companies attributable to the accountants that ended up under house arrest last Thursday. Some reports have reached Guardia di Finanza through the FIU of the Bank of Italy and are recent (from last August), in other cases, however, they came directly to the researchers of the banking world. This is probably due to the fact that the figure of a former bank director has emerged, left without work for a series of favors, according to him at no cost, to the group of professionals linked to the Northern League.

Ghilardi did not denounce anomalous operations to combat money laundering, and which, according to him, had no economic motive, but the former director of the Ubi branch in Seriate (Bergamo) got into trouble for these “oversights” of his. made for a friend, Alberto Di Rubba, administrative director of the Lega in the Senate and former president of the Lombardy Film Commission, who today before the investigating judge Giulio Fanalese, said he was oblivious to the accusations. “The bank has not lost a penny, I have not collected a penny, I did it only out of friendship and in good faithHe said, intercepted on May 21, just as he spoke to Di Rubba, arrested along with two other trusted accountants from the Lega, Andrea Manzoni me Michele Scillieri, and the brother-in-law of the latter Fabio Barbarossa. Ghilardi, tries to present his justifications for not reporting a series of suspicious operations on the accounts of the company Di Rubba and the other auditor of Carroccio Andrea Manzoni. Missing reports for which in that period the banker had to defend himself from disciplinary disputes that will later lead to his dismissal.

Ex-banker concerned: “Who the hell … hires me?” – Ghilardi is very worried about his future, as he reads to Di Rubba all the complaints that the institute has made him: “Why at 50 where the hell do I go? (…) who the hell hires me (…) then I’ll have to have you or someone there again“And Manzoni the next day, speaking with a lawyer who assists Ghilardi, tells him:” Now they have presented a disciplinary dispute of (…) I don’t know how many pages (…) all linked to us for the speech of La Lega. “Ghilardi, who was heard by the Milan prosecutors as witnesses, later recounted the” anomalies “of the movements in those accounts:” They are transactions without valid economic reasons that, beyond the amounts, I have not seen in all my career. And I worked in a bank for almost thirty years ”. The witness in the July 22 minutes also spoke of “money rounds through ‘Più Voices'”, the association of which the League’s treasurer was the legal representative. Jules Centemeroand the fact that “Di Rubba asked me to open an account for Radio Padania and the regional associations of the League. “Ghilardi told investigators that the operation to open those accounts, however, did not go to port because it did not look good on the upper floors of the credit institution., since they were accounts in the name of political associations. Di Rubba, among other things, had previously worked in a bank and was an employee of his friend Ghilardi. And that is why, according to the Milan prosecutor’s office, a meeting with the leaders of the League is being organized in Rome.

Ghilardi in the minutes had spoken, among other things, of “movements registered in the accounts“From two companies of the accountants Carroccio, Sdc and Studio Cld, and from” numerous accreditations from Lega Nord, always with the same ‘invoice balance’ motive “. Manzoni’s” personal account “also” benefited “from these credits for the same reason. The two told him they were to “consult” but “it seemed strange to me since at the same time it happened that they billed the party with several company names“After Ghilardi was fired from the institute last May, the two accountants closed the accounts and moved them. At the center of the investigation for having received money from the League is businessman Francesco Barachetti and investigators are trying to understand whether there are other ‘figures’ of the same type in the hypothesis of a collection of ‘black funds’ and money passages from company to company.

Say Rubba to the judge: “Legal money” – Responding to the judge Say rubba He said that part of the money that was collected for the prosecution after the sale of the Cormano winery is not illegal at all, but is simply the commission received for a real estate sale managed by Andromeda. The former president of the Lombardy Film Commission would have given for each operation their justifications also from the accounting point of view. For example, he explained that the 178 thousand euros paid by the Andromeda company, attributable to Michele Scillieri, in favor of the SDC, attributable to himself and Andrea Manzoni, would be the commission for a sale of a property owned by a Bergamo family. Manzoni also denied the charges. In the next few days the lawyer will ask for the revocation of the house arrest. The lawyer added that the chapter of the Law “is not part of this line of investigation.” And that explains why a couple of questions related to party funds were not answered during interrogation.

Scillieri and Barbarroja, for their part, have decided not to appear for today’s interrogations and not respond to the judge, while the interrogation of Manzoni, the auditor of the Lega in the Chamber, will take place after that of Di Rubba, because the two party accountants, assisted by a lawyer Piermaria corso, they decided to defend themselves from the accusations, probably staying within the perimeter of the case of the shed sold to the institution for 800 thousand euros. Inflated price, according to the indictment, to drain public money of the foundation owned by the Lombardy region. The prosecutor Stefano Civardi, head of the investigation with Deputy Eugenio Fusco, was also present at the interrogations. Scillieri did not appear because, as his lawyer Massimo Di Noia clarified, “there is too much media pressure, it would be like subjecting him to caudine bifurcations.”

Meanwhile, the investigation that part of the history of the Cormano shed is also trying to find out whether or not the accountants have raised ‘black funds’ for the party. Investigation that advances in parallel to the Genoese on the recycling of 49 million euros of which no trace is found. From the investigation papers, that is, from thousands of documents archived these days, emerged a series of suspicious financial movements between the League, the accountants ended up under house arrest and so did the businessman Francesco Barachetti, owner of Barachetti service srl that raised more than 200 thousand euros for the renovation of the shed and that in recent years would have also obtained payments of more than 2 million euros from the Carroccio.

In a report of the Financial Police of November 2019 there is also a suspicious operation report in relation to approximately 18.7 million euros received in the account “of the Mauro Grandi notary’s office in Milan” on July 5, 2018 and from the “associated notary office Busani-Ridella-Mannella“Also from Milan. And the same day that money, he says, would be transferred with two electronic transfers” to Basel (Switzerland) in favor of Bailican Ltd “, a company with registered office in Cyprus, and of ‘Merchant Trust’. Yesterday in the Milan Prosecutor’s Office, the investigators clarified that this operation indicated in the report has nothing to do with the ongoing investigations in the Lombard capital on the case of the shed and on the alleged ‘black funds’ of the League. famous 49 million, on the other hand, the competence is of the Genoa Prosecutor. The information is in the documents of the Milanese investigations because, as reported, “the name of the notary Mauro Grandi”, as recorded in the annotation, arose in the matter of the property because “he signed the two deeds of sale”.