Naples, the Sma bribes paid by fifteen companies

"But why do you think I put you there if not to make money?"This is one of the conversations intercepted by the Naples financial police as part of the investigation that led to nine precautionary measures for bribes at SMA, the in-house company in Campania.

The speaker is Luciano Passariello, a former regional councilor in prison. His interlocutor is Lorenzo Di Domenico who was the sole director of Sma, when Passariello was president of the regional commission on the Campania region's subsidiaries.

According to investigators and prosecutors, Passariello obtained between December 2017 and February 2018 "cash and black money from about fifteen companies during the March 2018 political elections" for which the Fdi representative was a candidate, as the investigating judge Antonio Baldassarre claims in the charges brought against Passariello.

The sums paid by the companies "they range in total from 500 euros to 23.000 euros"Furthermore, Passariello, the indictment alleges, "sponsored and effectively determined the appointment of Lorenzo Di Domenico as sole director of SMA on November 30, 2016."

Passariello, investigators hypothesize, induced Di Domenico "to give, or rather to promise, also through Agostino Chiatto, his factotum, the awarding of certain contracts."

The events at the center of the Naples prosecutor's investigation into rigged tenders predate the current board of directors of Sma Campania, the region's in-house company, and dismissal procedures had already been initiated against some of the individuals involved.

This is what we read in a note from Sma Campania. The current Board of Directors, "composed of Tommaso Sodano, Fiorella Zabatta, Antonio Capasso was nominated by the Campania Region - we read in the press release - 10 months ago, precisely with the aim of starting a strong action of discontinuity with respect to the previous management and, therefore, to the judicial events that had, in the past, affected Sma Campania.

The measures adopted this morning by the judicial authorities refer to facts and behaviors undertaken by Sma Campania employees up until January 2021 and, therefore, prior to the installation of the current Board of Directors.

In this regard the company also specifies "that Sma Campania had already adopted procedures aimed at dismissing some of the employees affected today by the precautionary measure issued by the judicial authorities."

"Since his inauguration - the note continues - The current Board of Directors has made decisions and strategies aimed at restoring legality both within Sma Campania itself and in relation to the tender procedures launched by the company.

Reaffirming its full confidence in the Judiciary's work, the current Board of Directors of SMA Campania intends to continue, with even greater commitment, the activities and strategies already adopted to pursue the company's objectives in full compliance with the law. SMA Campania is currently engaged in key environmental activities, including, for example, support for the dismantling of the Zagaria bunker and management of post-earthquake activities in the Municipality of Casamicciola.

Today, the meeting with the sole shareholder, the Campania Region, was held as scheduled, at which, among other things, the 2020 budget was approved. This decision is further concrete and effective demonstration that the current Board of Directors of Sma Campania pursues the company's objectives with absolute transparency and in compliance with the law, with full and active willingness to collaborate with the judicial authorities for a concrete recovery of the company, including in restoring legality and combating all forms of illegality, profiteering, and malpractice.