Fiorito Produces Letter that Informed Polverini
“Here’s how council chair Abbruzzese shared out the money”. No self-control. Everyone wanted cash
Fiorito Produces Letter that Informed Polverini
“Here’s how council chair Abbruzzese shared out the money”. No self-control. Everyone wanted cash
ROME – The “thieves” presented false invoices for reimbursement while those at the top endorsed the illicit distribution of funds. Head-spinning expenses were run up by those whose job it was to supervise such payments. Relatives were hired as executives, consultants received lavish fees and dream holidays were passed off as political missions. Then there is the money that Franco Fiorito is alleged to have stolen. Initial checks show the amount is far higher than was thought. He stashed more than a million euros in bank accounts in Italy and abroad.
“Er Batman”, as Mr Fiorito is nicknamed, describes the “Lazio system”. He accuses fellow People of Freedom (PDL) party members and points the finger at regional authority chair Renata Polverini and regional council chair Mario Abbruzzese. But Mr Fiorito also casts suspicion on other parties. The report of his seven-hour questioning by assistant public prosecutor Alberto Caperna and deputy public prosecutor Alberto Pioletti details the thefts, listing the names and the circumstances that have characterised the past two years of regional government. While not extricating himself from charges of embezzlement, Er Batman is dragging everyone down with him. Actually, when details of his statement started to emerge, he denied mentioning Ms Polverini. However his lawyers Carlo Taormina and Enrico Pavia promised “spectacular developments”.
Polverini and the secret pact
Mr Fiorito told the public prosecutors: “It is my information that the other groups were in the same condition as the PDL so I am making a formal request for documents regarding the entire council to be examined”. On Thursday, financial police currency unit officers went back to the regional authority offices to seize files on the issuance of funds to all the political groups. More documents were seized at the authority building branch of Unicredit, where the funds are paid each month into the parties’ current accounts. Officers interviewed Mr Abbruzzese, after taking a statement yesterday from secretary Nazzareno Cicinelli, in both cases as a witness.
Mr Fiorito told the public prosecutors: “It is my information that the other groups were in the same condition as the PDL so I am making a formal request for documents regarding the entire council to be examined”. On Thursday, financial police currency unit officers went back to the regional authority offices to seize files on the issuance of funds to all the political groups. More documents were seized at the authority building branch of Unicredit, where the funds are paid each month into the parties’ current accounts. Officers interviewed Mr Abbruzzese, after taking a statement yesterday from secretary Nazzareno Cicinelli, in both cases as a witness.
The checks were necessary in the light of Mr Fiorito’s assertion: “It was the council cabinet office that laid down the rules but instructions on how to disburse the funds came from the executive council”. In other words, Renata Polverini knew perfectly well what was going on and must have been aware of the decision to allocate €100,000 to every councillor, a sum that could be raised to a maximum €300,000. Renata Polverini is supported by a list that carries her name so she received these funds and then distributed them to the various councillors. There was an agreement to permit this procedure and, depending on the post occupied by the recipient, it was possible to obtain progressively higher sums of money”. Mr Fiorito is highly critical of Mr Abbruzzese’s management: “Because following the executive council’s resolution, he was the one who verified all the items of the budget, from transport to education, and procured from those allocations enough money to make sure each councillor received at least €100,000”.
July letter
To show that everyone knew about these “irregularities”, Mr Fiorito handed magistrates a copy of a letter he sent to PDL councillors, to Ms Polverini, to Mr Abbruzzese and to his deputy Mr De Romanis on 18 July. The letter states: “At the suggestion of several zealous colleagues, I carried out a series of checks on receipts presented for expenses sustained. I found an absolutely intolerable situation with a complete absence of documentation in some cases and others that required ‘further investigation’ with over-general motivations lacking any actual receipts. Naturally, I write trusting in the good faith of everyone and in the prompt ability of each to supply rapid and effective answers”. There were also personal messages: “I have already dispatched a series of letters for the most egregious cases and expect an immediate answer. Let me make it clear that no errors of any kind will be tolerated. Where necessary, I will act to safeguard my and our interests”. At the time, the easy-money controversy was already raging. Investigators want to understand whether Mr Fiorito’s move might have been an attempt to cover his own position.
To show that everyone knew about these “irregularities”, Mr Fiorito handed magistrates a copy of a letter he sent to PDL councillors, to Ms Polverini, to Mr Abbruzzese and to his deputy Mr De Romanis on 18 July. The letter states: “At the suggestion of several zealous colleagues, I carried out a series of checks on receipts presented for expenses sustained. I found an absolutely intolerable situation with a complete absence of documentation in some cases and others that required ‘further investigation’ with over-general motivations lacking any actual receipts. Naturally, I write trusting in the good faith of everyone and in the prompt ability of each to supply rapid and effective answers”. There were also personal messages: “I have already dispatched a series of letters for the most egregious cases and expect an immediate answer. Let me make it clear that no errors of any kind will be tolerated. Where necessary, I will act to safeguard my and our interests”. At the time, the easy-money controversy was already raging. Investigators want to understand whether Mr Fiorito’s move might have been an attempt to cover his own position.
“Obsessed by eight ‘thieves’”
The two boxes of documents handed over to investigators contain the files of all sixteen PDL councillors. Er Batman’s suspicions, however, focused on eight of them. He lists their names and describes the circumstances that convinced him part of the accounts they were presenting to obtain the money “might be false”. “All self-control had disappeared. It wasn’t politics any more. Councillors were vying with each other to get more money. They all wanted money. They were unbearable, it was persecution. They kept phoning me up, or waited for me outside my office to ask me for money for dinners, photobooks and events. I was even asked for up to €10,000 for dinners for 300 people in restaurants that I doubt could take that many diners”.
The two boxes of documents handed over to investigators contain the files of all sixteen PDL councillors. Er Batman’s suspicions, however, focused on eight of them. He lists their names and describes the circumstances that convinced him part of the accounts they were presenting to obtain the money “might be false”. “All self-control had disappeared. It wasn’t politics any more. Councillors were vying with each other to get more money. They all wanted money. They were unbearable, it was persecution. They kept phoning me up, or waited for me outside my office to ask me for money for dinners, photobooks and events. I was even asked for up to €10,000 for dinners for 300 people in restaurants that I doubt could take that many diners”.
Mr Fiorito then names names and circumstances. He says of Lidia Nobili, whom he calls “Christmas tree” because of her sartorial eccentricities: “It was getting personal. She hounded me, demanding more money than she was entitled to”. There are stern words for Chiara Colosimo, “who received at least €50,000 for events in which Giorgia Meloni and Fabio Rampelli took part”. Carlo De Romanis “obtained money for PPE (European People’s Party) youth”, Giancarlo Miele “concentrated on petrol vouchers, ties and dinners” while Andrea Bernaudo “I think handed out fictitious consultancy contracts”. Mr Fiorito’s list of offenders includes Veronica Cappellaro and Romolo del Balzo who, as he had already said, “fixed his relatives up with jobs at the regional authority”. He was not the only one. Secretary Salvatore Ronghi managed to get his girlfriend Gabriella Peluso an executive job with an annual salary of €100,000.
More than a million euros in Italy and Spain
Er Batman accuses others but then has to defend his own thieving. Financial police calculate that the figure he embezzled from the party is well in excess of the €730,000 his successor Francesco Battistoni has already detailed in a report drafted by his legal advisers Enrico and Roberto Valentini. During questioning, Er Batman was accused of moving €747,000 into his personal bank accounts in Italy, and €314,000 into his accounts in Spain, for a total of €1.061 million. He professes confidence: “It was all in order. If I made mistakes, I’ll answer for them but I never took a cent more than was due to me”. In response to the allegation that he made 109 bank transfers for identical sums in an attempt to avoid internal controls, he said: “These operations are traceable. If I’d wanted to steal, I’d have done it differently. And the decision to keep the cars bought for the party was also taken properly. In fact, I pay for them”. But his defence looks shaky. Tellingly, Mr Fiorito’s lawyer Carlo Taormina is weighing up whether to make him hand back money he is shown to have taken over and above the regulation amount.
Er Batman accuses others but then has to defend his own thieving. Financial police calculate that the figure he embezzled from the party is well in excess of the €730,000 his successor Francesco Battistoni has already detailed in a report drafted by his legal advisers Enrico and Roberto Valentini. During questioning, Er Batman was accused of moving €747,000 into his personal bank accounts in Italy, and €314,000 into his accounts in Spain, for a total of €1.061 million. He professes confidence: “It was all in order. If I made mistakes, I’ll answer for them but I never took a cent more than was due to me”. In response to the allegation that he made 109 bank transfers for identical sums in an attempt to avoid internal controls, he said: “These operations are traceable. If I’d wanted to steal, I’d have done it differently. And the decision to keep the cars bought for the party was also taken properly. In fact, I pay for them”. But his defence looks shaky. Tellingly, Mr Fiorito’s lawyer Carlo Taormina is weighing up whether to make him hand back money he is shown to have taken over and above the regulation amount.
21 settembre 2012 | 17:14
English translation by Giles Watson
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