Tomorrow, October 17, and Friday October 18, at the offices of the GIP section of the court of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, preliminary interrogations will take place for 14 suspects, including municipal officials and entrepreneurs, involved in a new investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Santa Maria Capua Vetere regarding the Municipality of Caserta.
The investigation focuses on an illicit system of awarding contracts for the maintenance of public green spaces, often in exchange for bribes. Among the contested contracts is the one for the maintenance of Piazza Carlo III, now Piazza Carlo di Borbone, in front of the Royal Palace of Caserta.
The investigation involves a total of 23 suspects, extending its ramifications to the Municipality of San Nicola la Strada. The brothers Franco and Giulio Biondi are the link between the two local authorities: Franco, 63, manager of the Municipality of Caserta, already arrested and then released last June for a previous similar investigation; Giulio, 66, former manager of the Municipality of San Nicola la Strada, now retired.
The Prosecutor's Office had requested the arrest of all 23 suspects, but the investigating judge only summoned 14, with the risk of a possible arrest after the interrogations. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the two Biondis were part of a criminal association aimed at manipulating tenders in favor of "friendly" entrepreneurs.
An emblematic example is the case of Franco Biondi, who, in order to favor some entrepreneurs, divided a contract of 269 thousand euros, above the community threshold, into four lots of 67 thousand euros each, thus allowing the use of the negotiated procedure instead of the public one. Thanks to the intervention of Biondi and other investigated municipal employees, Michele Amato and Francesco Cerreto, the lots were awarded to the investigated entrepreneurs. Among these works, also the maintenance of Piazza Carlo III.
In exchange for the favors, Biondi allegedly received various benefits, such as maintenance of the garden of his villa and, in one case, the cleansing of his municipal office from possible interception devices, offered by an entrepreneur who had won a contract for the assessment of electromagnetic risk.
Article published on 16 October 2024 - 13:05
