“In fact, Dr. Paolo Barletta appears as a mere suspect in a judicial proceeding exclusively because of his formal role within the corporate structure (as clearly emerges from the provisional complaint notified on October 5) “, writes the company.” At the same time, it must also be immediately clarified that no member of the Barletta Group has been subjected to any precautionary measure, as well as there are no initiatives of any kind against legal persons “, continues the press release.
But, “coming to the facts, it is necessary to underline how the episode involving the Barletta group is the subject of a necessary investigation in relation to an occasional and well-circumscribed professional relationship with the lawyer. Gianluca Esposito (full professor of administrative law at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome), report in order to which, according to the same investigators, “the further necessary investigative developments are required.” It follows that, on the one hand, the registration of this crime report is revealed as a due act and, on the other hand, that it is still subject to preliminary verification (since, as has already been clarified, the main investigation was born and developed exclusively against subjects and not attributable to the Barletta Group) “.
“More precisely, the single investigative segment of interest concerns the offer made to the Barletta group by prof. Gianluca Esposito in the autumn of 2020 concerning professional services to verify the feasibility of facilitated financing operations by Invitalia1 – the so-called development contracts – aimed at supporting some tourist-accommodation investments that the Group was planning in Southern Italy, to be precise in Maratea “, says the press release.
“On this point it is worth rremember how the development contracts with Invitalia respond to a regulatory instrument created precisely to facilitate companies that support important investments capable of producing significant repercussions on the economic and social level; nor can we overlook the fact that development contracts come to life only after long and complex standardized procedures (which cannot be omitted) which involve various administrations at multiple levels (regional and central) and are subject to an in-depth investigation of the merits, both with regard to the characteristics of the applicant, both in relation to the proposed investment “, writes the company.
“In October 2020, a regular consultancy contract was therefore concluded, in writing, with Prof. Esposito; subsequently, without ever having even submitted any request for funding to Invitalia, already in the first months of 2021, the Barletta group communicated to prof. I have the intention not to make use of this tool and, consequently, to want to terminate the consultancy contract. This resulted in a legal dispute between the Barletta Group and the professional in question, which is still ongoing, so that to date no sum has been paid to the consultant “.
“The one just illustrated was the only opportunity for professional meeting between prof. Esposito and the Barletta group, which – the azineda reiterates – has also been resolved in a civil dispute still pending between the parties and started as early as last June, therefore well before we were aware of the existence of today’s investigation “.
Furthermore, “it should be reiterated that Not only has the Barletta group never received any support, in any form, from Invitalia, but it has never asked for it either (in the sense that no application has ever been physically completed or registered with Invitalia by the Barletta Group). Finally, the Barletta Group has never paid any amount for fees or other entitlements, in any form, to Prof. Gianluca Esposito, either directly or indirectly; nor has any professional relationship ever been activated with the architect Esposito (brother of Prof. Gianluca Esposito), so that no compensation has ever been agreed or paid to him. In light of all the foregoing, the Barletta Group – while respectful of the value of freedom of the press and information – will provide effective protection of its reputation with every useful tool, in order to stigmatize and prevent improper combinations and exploitation of any kind. “, writes the group.
Finally, the group makes itself “available to offer any further clarification to all its stakeholders and to the press, in order to reduce the degree of uncertainty on an issue that, while waiting to be defined by the judicial authority, also deserves a timely and truthful reconstruction on the social and media level, to which we trust this document can make a substantial contribution “.