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REGGIO EMILIA Bribes and pilot contracts. This is the axis of the investigation of the Guardia di Finanza, which concluded its investigations by delivering 26 notices of conclusion of the preliminary investigations issued against, among others, pro-tempore managers and officials of the municipality of Reggio Emilia.
Among the 26 investigated in the ‘Re Cleaning’ investigation on the alleged irregular contracts of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, there are also Stefano poma, Commander of the Municipal Police of the capital currently in office. In competition with the manager Roberto Montagnani (another suspect) would have “changed the scores, eliminating and overwriting different values” to the companies that participated in a tender on September 6, 2016 regarding the disposal of waste.
Also included in the registry of prosecutors Mirko tutino, former councilor for the environment of the municipality in the last council of the first term of mayor Luca Vecchi. The charge is “disclosure of official secrets.” Among the new suspects (at the time of the first searches in June 2019 there were 15) also Nando rinaldi, president of the Reggio Emilia Nursery and Preschool Institution and director of the same institution, Paola Cagliari, accused in contest of aggravated disturbance of the auction related to the tender for the transfer of the service to the ‘G. Maramotti. “Finally, among the managers who are still in office there are Alessandro Meggiato of the mobility service and Raffaele Leoni of ‘Asp’ to which the network of municipal residences of Reggio Emilia belongs.
THE CASE OF SANTO GNONI The notices in question were issued as a result of complex investigations initiated in 2016 and developed, first of all, in relation to acts of incitement to corruptionby Santo Gnoni, judge of the Provincial Tax Commission of Reggio Emilia but above all Manager of the Legal Service of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, for many years one of the key figures of the administrative machine.
In particular, it was learned that the suspect, as a spokesman for the Provincial Fiscal Commission, in a first episode requested the donation of 15 thousand euros to carry out an act contrary to official duties, accepting the appeal of an entrepreneur against the appraisal notification notified by the local Tax Agency. On a second occasion, the suspect went to a mechanic requesting the free service in your own car, with the intention of helping you later with the pending tax with the Commission.
Starting with Gnoni as a central figure, the prosecutor had unknowingly put the bed bugs installed in your city hall office and with the Trojan inserted into your mobile phone, which revealed many obscure implications of the investigation.
PARKING AND SHARED BICYCLES: MEGA CONTRACT ON SIGHT In the continuation of the investigations, Gnoni and other pro-tempore managers and officials of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia determined new crimes, who, in competition with each other, disturbed the administrative procedure for the preparation of tenders of the local authority, in order to influence the choice of contractor by the public administration.
The irregularities, also confirmed by the result of the technical advice of two experts appointed by the Judicial Authority, concerned contracts in many sectors, for a total value of approximately 27 million euros, whose tenders were “tailored”, in order to make it difficult for potential candidates to participate and unduly favor the winning companies.
Between these the most important is undoubtedly the European call launched in 2016 for a estimated value of more than 25 million euros, with which the local authority proceeded to identify the contractor to whom to entrust the services of “parking management for a fee in public areas and for public use; administration of school transportation (school bus service); ZTL and AP control service management; administration of shared bike service”From the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, with the possibility of a possible technical extension.
It was a maxi-call with the preparation of ad hoc requirements, very restrictive in relation to each service, so much so that it is essential that a well-structured organization of companies participate in the contest alter the public tender procedure and favor the only participating subject who, then, turned out to be the winner.
THE ROAD RESTORATION CONTRACT A second call analyzed in the course of the investigations referred to the transfer, in 2017, of the restoration of road safety conditions committed after the occurrence of traffic accidents, with a total estimated value of approx. 950 thousand euros, compared to a potential duration of the contract of 6 and a half years. In detail, the administrative procedure for choosing the contractor was modified through the award of the contract to a consortium (former manager of the service) in exchange for the amicable settlement of a dispute over alleged credits owed by the local authority by a consortium company. Parallel to the illegal settlement agreement, the manipulation of the scores was recorded to make the aforementioned consortium appear as the first ranked in the bidding ranking, to the detriment of the rest of the candidates.
KINDERGARTEN CONTRACT Similar conduct was carried out as part of the entrust the management of a nursery school in the municipal area, for the 2016-2019 triennium, for a tender amount of approximately 850 thousand euros. In this case, the suspects ingeniously proceeded to exclude the first classified, by providing ad hoc reasons, in order to declare the economic offer presented as anomalous, thus determining the award to the second classified (former service manager).
THE EXTERNAL LAWYER CONTRACT Another “tailored” call is the one related to the 2016 bidding regulations for the search for two lawyers and grant of legal services, for a period of 12 months and a total value of 60 thousand euros. In this circumstance, the public procedure was altered by providing, for access, a Particularly strict professional requirement with regard to the specific object of the contract, which artificially limits competition and favors the two predesigned candidates.
THE INSURANCE BROKER With reference, then, to the contest for the assignment of the insurance consulting and intermediation service, for a value of 300 thousand euros, new acts of corruption were discovered by the then manager of the Reggio Emilia City Council Legal Service, who unduly obtained a profit of about 5,000 euros from the winning company, consisting of the free renewal of an insurance contract related to the residence itself .
The investigations carried out have also revealed hypotheses of disclosure of official secrets, ideological falsehood in public documents and failure to report a crime by a public official.
