Coldiretti’s lawyer Benedetto Marzocchi Buratti to Affari: “It served to make consumers aware of the pitfalls of the market and the possible incorrect practices that damage the agricultural market so much”
“The National requirement of potatoes is about 2.3 million tons”, wrote the State Forestry Corps in 2013, “while the (national, ed.) production is about 1.5”. Where did the other 800,000 tons come from? And above all because on supermarket shelves we find almost exclusively Italian potatoes if we import it from other countries?
Thousands of documents and interceptions for 2 years of investigations by the State Forestry Corps, the nucleus of Bologna, today by the Carabinieri, for the case known as the Potato-gate. Basically for the prosecution those who were indicted in 2019, too with the hypothesis of crime of criminal conspiracy, they passed off foreign potatoes as Italian (and also onions) to the detriment of consumers and large-scale distribution. Giulio Romagnoli, owner of Romagnoli Fratelli spa, one of the most important packaging and distribution companies for potatoes and onions in Italy, Claudio Gamberini, former national director for Conad fruit and vegetable acquisitions, also ended up in trial with various types of charges, Antonio Covone of the company of the same name in Campania and Roberto Chiesa, purchasing manager of Romagnoli and another series of defendants who in the end will remain in 14.
The crimes are now time-barred with the Public Prosecutor’s Office asking not to proceed against all 14 defendants but also explaining that the existence of the objective and subjective elements of the crime is “deemed proven, it must be noted, however, that the crime is in any case extinguished due to the statute of limitations, both for the promoters and for the participant”. The same applies to the other charges contested.
The requests for the conviction of the companies involved for the administrative offenses still remain100,000 euros for Romagnoli spa, 150 thousand for Covone srl, 25,000 euros for Ortofrutticola Parma srl and Baschieri Rino di Patrizio and Dannj Baschieri snc The sentence has been set for next January 12th.
Meanwhile it was the Forest Ranger Michele Bacocco was sentenced in the first instance to immediately pay 40,000 euros in damages because he allegedly revealed some details to the Report television broadcast that made the case known in 2014. Two people involved in the affair in different ways who had chosen the abbreviated procedure were also sentenced in the first instance, Grazia Romagnoli for corruption between private individuals and Michele Manenti, one of the employees of Romagnoli Fratelli spa for slander against the Forestry agent. Bacocco no longer works in Bologna but in 2020 he was transferred by authority to Zocca, in the province of Modena, in the mountains.
Coldiretti, the farmers’ representative body filed a civil action. The lawyer Benedetto Marzocchi Buratti who represents Codiretti said to Affaritaliani: “Procedural times will not allow for a ruling on the merits but the accusatory system has been confirmed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office which has requested a conviction for the companies involved. The Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed both the association and the ‘fine crimes’, so much so that it asked for the conviction of the companies. Regardless of the prescription, we are satisfied for having contributed to countering a system that goes against the interests of consumers. It served to make consumers aware of the pitfalls of the market and the possible incorrect practices that damage the agricultural market so much”.
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