Genoa – At a certain point, the top management of the Region, in particular the former Chief of Staff Matteo Cozzani, received “unusual” requests regarding the allocation of public housingas well as CVs of people to place wherever possible. The recipients of the requests could not explain “the reason” for that pressure, but confirmed that Cozzani himself “personally followed the procedures and wanted to be updated”. The problem, insists the Prosecutor’s Office, is that the same people for whom he asked his referents to act, were vote-gatherers in the 2020 Regionals, over which Cozzani was still plenipotentiary by delegation of the former governor Giovanni Toti.
Confirmation comes with the new documents filed by the Prosecutor’s Office in the vote-trading strand of the investigation that last May 7th beheaded Liguria, causing both the former Cabinet chief and the former president to end up under house arrest. Both, in addition to having taken bribes from various entrepreneurs, are accused of electoral corruption because according to the prosecutors they asked to gather preferences from the brothers Arturo and Italo Testa (representatives of the Riesini in Valpolcevera and in turn investigated with the aggravating circumstance of having favored a mafia clan, which instead is not applied to Toti) in exchange for specific favors.
The recorded “summons”
One of the minutes considered relevant is that of Charles Sacchettia regional employee and former member of the staff of Marco Scajola, councilor with responsibility for construction who is in no way involved in the investigation. The prosecutors called Sacchetti after the arrests because his name had emerged from wiretaps, primarily from an environmental investigation three years ago. It is March 26, 2021 and, according to investigators, Cozzani summons him to his office to ask for practical help. He must push to obtain a change of council house for Biagio Zambitto, who is also under investigation and accused of having secured votes for Toti’s candidates in exchange for the transfer from one apartment in Arte (the regional council housing agency) to another. The financiers delegated by prosecutor Federico Manotti, who coordinated this line of investigation, therefore ask: “Have you ever had specific requests to facilitate Arte practices?”.
«If we are talking about assignments – the witness replies – no, as they follow a procedure called announcement-ranking. As regards the change of accommodation, these come directly to the attention of the assessor for special needs, dictated by many reasons. So: the councilor receives a request, which is forwarded to the undersigned, who brings it to the attention of the territorial representative of Arte, asking for information on the status of the process, on the position and on the prospects”. The investigators again: “Did you deal with the change of accommodation of Biagio Zambitto? Are you able to provide the correspondence relating to the practice and to report whether it was processed with different methods or timing compared to similar dossiers?”. Sacchetti: “I was summoned by the Chief of Staff, Matteo Cozzani, who in his office brought to my attention the practice sent by Zambitto, already registered by Arte, and asked me to pay attention to her… it was a request from a man over seventy who wanted to change his accommodation because his needed maintenance and the request is similar to those I received from the assessor, with the only difference that the origin of this one was from the Chief of Staff. I forwarded the attachment to the sole director of Arte Genova Paolo Gallo…».
The investigators’ doubts
The financiers are not convinced and raise the issue: «What do you mean by “paying attention” to the practice?». Sacchetti again: «Take charge of it and send it to Arte». The Guardia di Finanza again: «But it was already registered by Arte, therefore already in the possession of the office. What is the point of this “attention”?». The witness: «Follow it by speeding up the process, without going into the merits of the requirements of the handling. I am limited to sending it to the administrator of Arte, specifying that it came from the head of the Cabinet: I did not participate in any inspection or other phases”. The military tightens the circle: “Is it usual for the regional council’s chief of staff, Cozzani (obviously referring to the period under investigation, having resigned after the arrest, ed.), to call you for procedures for changing public housing?” The answer is dry: “No, apart from this case it has never happened. As I said, other requests came from the assessor, from the secretariat of the presidency of the Region and from other bodies. This is the only case, that I remember, in which I received a request directly from the chief of staff”.
It should be remembered that the Finance Police had also limited the figure of Sacchetti due to the subsequent content of the dialogue with Cozzani intercepted in March 2021, which raised the antennas first and foremost on the vote trading. And yet in another passage of the conversation, Sacchetti himself asks the manager of the Region for advice on how to “give a hand” to Mario Conio, then mayor of Taggia in the Imperia area. Because, Sacchetti claims when listened to by the Finance Police bugs, “they have a contact” with a company that deals with “medium-sized infrastructure and cemetery management”. And that if this company were to succeed in entering some public administrations, the “initiatives could be taken over by Mario”, who “gets… in percentages”. Not only that. Sacchetti at that point explains that “we need to open a gap in some administration” and names three municipalities, “Spezia, Sarzana and Sanremo”, calling them “three big plates”. According to the regional employee, the company has as its “boss” a former deputy of the Popolo delle Libertà and since 2013 of Fratelli d’Italia, Agostino Ghiglia, appointed member of the Privacy Authority in 2020. Sacchetti says that the former parliamentarian would be willing to meet Conio. And he doesn’t bat an eyelid, saying he is available to organize the face-to-face meeting. Sacchetti, questioned by Secolo XIX after the wiretaps emerged, had already reiterated that he did not want to make any statement on the investigation.
Job Demands
Another report considered significant is that of Christian Washestax consultant. After stating that he has known Cozzani «since 2016», he specifies that «in November 2020 (a few weeks after the Regionals, ed.) Cozzani gave me 4 or 5 CVs… I had not been asked specifically about the companies… I sent them to the construction company Cosme because it is a company I have known for several years, registered with the Cassa edile la Spezia». Those CVs belonged to figures either directly involved in the vote-trading case, or related to some of the defendants in the same tranche. And so the investigators ask: «In your opinion, why did Cozzani report these people to you?». Levaggi: «I have no idea».
#Vote #trading #cards #prosecutors #Favors #Region #public #housing