Avellino. The former mayor of Avellino, Gianluca Festa, recipient last Thursday of a new order of precautionary custody under house arrest, a regime to which he has been subjected since April 18, has decided not to appear at the preliminary hearing scheduled for this morning before the investigating judge of the Court of Avellino.
The new ordinance accuses Festa of having received, through the architect Fabio Guerriero, also under house arrest, sums of money from three entrepreneurs engaged in work on behalf of the municipality of Avellino.
The decision to avail himself of the right to remain silent was agreed upon with his lawyer, Luigi Petrillo. “The wiretaps,” the lawyer explains, “which constitute the only source of evidence adduced by the investigators, appear at first glance to be anything but clear. For this reason, we are carrying out technical checks, which are incompatible with the limited time of the preliminary hearing.”
According to Petrillo, there remain "doubts about the legitimacy of the wiretaps", on which the Court of Cassation will rule on September 18.
The defense of the former mayor has made it known that it will evaluate the possibility of a subsequent questioning by the PM when "we have had the opportunity to better verify whether the contested sums are linked to public works contracted or managed irregularly, something that my client strongly denies from now on".
The preliminary hearings of the three entrepreneurs involved are instead scheduled for tomorrow, starting at 12. The Prosecutor's Office had requested their arrest, but the investigating judge of the Court of Avellino rejected the request, imposing however a ban on contracting with the public administration for one year.
Article published on 15 July 2024 - 14:53
