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MILAN. A twist in the investigation into the sale of Cormano’s warehouse to the Lombardy Film Commission, a company controlled by the Lombardy Region: at night, the Guardia di Finanza, at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, carried out the arrest of a figurehead and three accountants, all linked to the Carroccio. They are Michele Scillieri, Alberto di Rubba, Andrea Manzoni and Fabio Giuseppe Barbarossa. The four are under investigation on various charges for crimes of embezzlement, alteration of freedom in the contractor election procedure and fraudulent tax evasion. All of the suspects were placed under house arrest.
Alberto di Rubba and Andrea Manzoni are “heavy” names in the financial architecture of Matteo Salvini’s League: the former is in fact an administrator in the Senate of the Carroccio group, the latter is instead auditor of the party in the Chamber. The names of the two accountants were also heavily involved in the investigation into the disappearance of the 49 million public funds that the League should have returned to the state. And then there is Arturo Maria Scillieri, the accountant in whose office the “Lega per Salvini premier” movement was founded and domiciled. Finally, Barbarossa is the brother-in-law of the latter and, in the investigation, considered a “figurehead”.
The story relates to the inflated sale of an industrial warehouse in Cormano, a city in the Milan area, home to the Lombardia Film Commission, a foundation controlled by the region to promote film projects. Paloschi srl sold the shed. His liquidator is Luca Sostegni, 62, of Montecatini Terme, who was detained in early July by investigators from the Gdf’s Economic and Financial Police Unit while he was ready to flee (or rather return) to Brazil. With him he had a Flixbus ticket to Germany, a plane ticket to South America and cash. He had recently returned to Italy, because – as he had told L’Espresso, who anticipated the whole affair – he had only “change” left.
The names of three accountants considered the “creators” of the operation also ended up in the suspect registry: Alberto Di Rubba, former president of the Film Commission Foundation, Michele Scillieri and Andrea Manzoni.
The events take place between 2016 and 2018. The Cormano warehouse, in February 2017, was sold for 400 thousand euros by Paloschi di Sostegni to the real estate Andromeda srl (managed by Scillieri’s brother-in-law) and paid with four checks never collected. Eleven months later, Andrómeda sells the property to the Lombardia Film Commission Foundation, under the presidency of Di Rubba, for double the amount: 800 thousand euros. Part of the proceeds, 250 thousand euros, would have ended up in an account in the name of Fidirev, a trustee that controlled “Futuro participazioni”, another company managed by Scillieri, and owner of Andromeda itself. In search of the 800 thousand euros, the magistrates also made a request letter in Switzerland. Prosecutors are also challenging the extortion in Sostegni: he allegedly demanded 50,000 euros from Di Rubba, Scillieri and Manzoni in exchange for silence.
