There are “bribes” for fake Covid vaccinations or to obtain fake academic qualifications, in other cases the “bribes” have facilitated the awarding of contracts for waste management rather than for the construction of public works or the granting of building permits.
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And then there are the investigations for electoral political exchange and those related to major works. In the run-up to the International Day Against Corruption, Libera took a snapshot of the main investigations into corruption in our country this year. The snapshot shows an alarming picture: the unrestrained advance of corruption in Italy.
From Turin to Avellino, from Bari to Pozzuoli, from Palermo and Catania, from Milan to Rome, 2024 is a continuous bulletin of “bribes” involving administrators, politicians, officials, managers, entrepreneurs, professionals and mafiosi involved in a vast range of corruption crimes.
From January 1 to December 1, 2024, Libera has recorded 48 investigations into corruption and extortion from press reports, over four investigations per month. 28 prosecutors' offices in 14 Italian regions have been activated to investigate this always hot front. A total of 588 people have been investigated for crimes ranging from corruption for acts contrary to official duties to political-mafia vote-trading, from bid-rigging to extortion aggravated by mafia methods, from abuse of office (while it was in force) to illicit influence peddling.
From the analysis of the investigations, still ongoing and therefore without definitive determination of individual responsibilities, a “solidly” regulated corruption emerges, still systemic and organized, where depending on the context the role of guarantor of compliance with the “rules of the game” is covered by different actors: the senior manager or the well-connected fixer, the “boss of the public body” or the entrepreneur with transversal contacts, the mafia boss or the “business politician”.
"This is - comments Francesca Rispoli, national co-president of Libera - a picture that is certainly not exhaustive, although significant. On the one hand, in fact, the "liberalization" of procurement procedures and the abolition of abuse of office have made it more difficult for the judiciary to acquire evidence;
on the other hand, the most insidious forms of corruption are today based on a formal legitimacy of public acts bent to powerful private interests, which correspond to dematerialized counterparts (favors, political support, etc.), or even formally legal, such as financing of electoral campaigns. A corruption that is now "legalized", in the face of which repressive action is now impotent."
The southern regions including the islands “lead” with 20 investigations in total, followed by those of the Centre (16) and the North (12). First in the ranking is Lazio with 10 investigations, followed by Campania with 9 investigations, Lombardy with 7, Sicily with 5 and Puglia with 4. These regions account for 74% of the investigations at a national level.
As many as 106 people under investigation are in Lazio, 82 people under investigation in Sicily, followed by the Marche with 80 people under investigation, of which 77 people under investigation in a single investigation into corruption for fake anti-covid vaccinations, 79 in Campania, from Lombardy, with 72 suspects and from Puglia, with 64. The map of the investigations and the number of suspects, for whom the presumption of innocence applies, is the result of research using agency releases, articles in national and local newspapers, institutional press reviews, press releases from the Public Prosecutor's Office and the police force as sources.
According to Libera there is a “normalized” corruption
The many investigations – concludes Libera – tell us of a corruption that is now “normalized”, which like a true “national pathology” fuels widespread distrust in democratic institutions, disengagement, abstentionism.
And despite the worsening of the phenomenon, we are witnessing a progressive loosening of the inhibitory brakes of institutional brakes and counterweights, following legislative "counter-reforms", such as the "Nordio law", and the weakening of protections and controls. In other words, the most favorable conditions are being created for an undisturbed, unpunished and extremely profitable practice - thanks to the huge funds allocated for PNRR, very large works or sporting events already scheduled - of various forms of "abuse of power for private ends", which in many cases will soon no longer be prosecutable as crimes by the judiciary, nor reportable as such by the press, and therefore no longer recognizable as such by public opinion.
Investigations into corruption in Italy
(1 January– December 1st 2024)
-
Region
Number of people
Investigate
Number
Investigations
Campania
79
9
Sicilia
82
5
Calabria
14
1
Puglia
64
4
Lazio
106
10
Sardinia
9
1
Toscana
3
1
Liguria
43
2
Emilia Romagna
5
1
Lombardia
72
7
Brands
80
2
Umbria
3
1
Piemonte
7
2
Basilicata
21
2
Total
588
48
Source: Free processing on Agency launches, articles in national and local newspapers,
institutional press reviews, press releases from the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Police Forces.
Article published on 9 December 2024 - 06:37
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This corruption situation in Italy is very worrying, it seems that the authorities are unable to control these phenomena. There are many investigations and no real change is seen. I hope that there will be more effective measures.