Benevento – A dramatic turn of events in the courtroom: the 67-year-old businessman from Airola, a former Carabinieri non-commissioned officer, has been cleared of charges of "faking" thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer with "hidden" alcohol.
The preliminary hearing judge accepts the defense and dismisses the case. In a quick hearing at the Benevento Court, the preliminary hearing judge (GUP) fully acquitted a 67-year-old man from Airola, a former Carabinieri marshal and at the time the legal representative of an LLC specializing in the production of e-cigarettes.
The man, accused in conjunction with another person of commercial fraud and the sale of unauthorized products, was at the center of an investigation that smacked of vitriolic deception: he was accused of having placed on the market 5 bottles of hand sanitizer with an actual alcohol content of 22%, well above the 7,5% declared on the label, and without the necessary health certifications.
The breakthrough came thanks to the compelling arguments of the entrepreneur's lawyer Vittorio Fucci, who dismantled the prosecution's case piece by piece.
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The preliminary hearing judge, convinced by the evidence presented, granted the request for dismissal, closing a chapter that had kept the entrepreneur and the vaping industry in Campania in suspense.
The investigation, which began with checks by the local health authority at the height of the Covid emergency, had highlighted alleged irregularities in the composition of the products, marketed as "safe" sanitizers but potentially misleading consumers.
The prosecution argued it was a public health risk; the defense argued it was a technical misunderstanding regarding labeling and authorizations, devoid of any criminally relevant elements. Today, the acquittal not only rehabilitates the former marshal—who has taken back the reins of his company—but raises questions about the rigor of controls during the boom in DIY disinfectants.
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