Benevento, bribes on contracts: the mayor of Pago Veiano and two others, a building contractor and a trusted technician of the mayor and the contractor, under house arrest.
The financial police of the Piedimonte Matese branch (Caserta) have executed a precautionary custody order for them under house arrest, issued by the investigating judge of Benevento at the request of the Sannio Prosecutor's Office, for the crimes of corruption and disturbed freedom of auctions, aimed at facilitating and allowing the awarding of two tenders with a total value of 5 million euros, relating to the construction of an elementary school and the reconstruction of a provincial road, to companies attributable to the same entrepreneur.
The investigations, initially started by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta) and then transferred for jurisdiction to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Benevento, have allowed the acquisition of serious evidence regarding the intercession activity that the mayor allegedly carried out with the members of the tender commissions, currently not identified, in order to allow the awarding of the most important public works to be carried out in the municipal territory to companies attributable to the entrepreneur, with the assistance of the trusted technician for the preparation of the administrative documentation.
According to the investigations, the works to be awarded were identified even before the formal publication of the tender notice, then the activity continued with the rigging of the tender and the continuous confrontation between them even for the most negligible details, in order to eliminate the competitors.
According to the reconstruction by the Public Prosecutor's Office led by Aldo Policastro, the mayor and the trusted technician were paid a sum of no less than 90 thousand euros in order to help the entrepreneur in the awarding of the tenders, despite the fact that the companies attributable to him did not have the necessary professional requirements to participate in the tender.
Even some of the tender commissioners, not yet identified, would have received a sum of between 4 and 5 euros. The agreement continued even after the award in the challenge phase by the competitor before the TAR.
With reference to the execution of the works for the elementary school, the management of the works was entrusted to the mayor's trusted technician, as foreseen by the defendants even before the publication of the tender notice.
According to the Prosecutor's Office “the peremptory tone of the expressions used allows us to identify a real modus operandi on the part of the mayor, determined in demanding the payment of his own bribe in the context of each tender, as compensation for the coordination between his trusted technician and the tender commissions, over which they exercise their influence”.
These circumstances, continues the note signed by the prosecutor Aldo Policastro, “they highlight not only the gravity of the facts, but also a certain habit typical of those who are dedicated to 'managing' tenders and directing them as they please, pre-arranging their awarding even before publication, as in fact happened for the tender relating to the school works”.
Article published on 27 July 2022 - 10:40
