Toti, over eight hours of interrogation by prosecutors. “By no means served non-public pursuits” –

Rita Cavallaro

24 maggio 2024

A river of interrogation and an infinite record of questions, to search out proof or contradictions within the corruption investigation that has put Giovanni Toti within the crosshairs. The governor of Liguria, who has been beneath home arrest since Might seventh, yesterday voluntarily underwent a face-to-face assembly with prosecutors Federico Manotti of the Anti-Mafia, Luca Monteverde and with the deputy prosecutor Vittorio Miniati who, in over eight hours of dialog, they requested as many as 180 questions regarding 9 thousand pages of paperwork, with a purpose to delve into the disputes concerning the alleged “Toti System”, that do ut des, electoral financing repeatedly declared in trade for favours, between the President of the Area and a few entrepreneurs, in to start with Aldo Spinelli. The governor, assisted by the lawyer Stefano Savi, answered all of the questions and denied any wrongdoing, sturdy within the perception of his innocence and “armed” with the accounting documentation which experiences each single switch of these 74 thousand euros in dispute, declared in compliance with the legislation on celebration financing and personal contributions to politics. «Each euro collected had a political vacation spot: no contribution produced private enrichment or profit for me, different members of my celebration or non-public third events. And exactly to dispel each minimal attainable suspicion and assure most transparency and risk of management, explicit consideration was paid to separating each financial side of my non-public life from any financial exercise linked to politics, a lot so that non-public present accounts have been additionally separated and used for political exercise completely devoted and “clear” accounts”, wrote the governor in a 17-page memorandum, filed to accompany the interrogation minutes.

A doc with which “to elucidate the political and ethical traces which, since I assumed the burden of main the Area, have all the time knowledgeable my exercise within the sole curiosity of pursuing the nice of the residents”, added Toti, confirming “the agency want to collaborate”, within the curiosity of justice, “to revive to my determine as a person and servant of the State the Dignity that I’ve always tried to protect”. In the course of the face-to-face assembly, the magistrates requested for an account above all of that “relationship of correspondence” with Spinelli, dropped at gentle by the wiretaps, on the idea of which the investigators contested from Toti how the electoral financing, though clear, can be a form of bribe for the curiosity of the president of Liguria in some affairs, together with the renewal of the thirty-year concession for the Bulk Terminal. Concession which didn’t rely on Toti, however which was signed by the previous president of the Port Authority Paolo Emilio Signorini and by three different of the 4 members of the Committee. On the circumstance, in specifying that «not one of the paperwork are ready with my energetic participation nor with that of my places of work», Toti put it in black and white that «my intervention on the occasions didn’t pertain to the paperwork themselves and their high quality, however was a easy work of mediation and solicitation for the belief of a purely public curiosity”.

Not solely that, the governor of Liguria, talking in regards to the relationship with Spinelli, clarified that he took motion on the questions posed by the entrepreneur «by means of an intervention all the time dictated by the spirit of public utility and infrequently even in battle with the pursuits of Spinelli himself however to favor of different operators”. He denies the existence of a vote trade with the Riesi immigrant neighborhood: «It ought to be famous that I gained the elections with round 380 thousand votes. The assist of the Riesina neighborhood takes the shape, within the investigations, with a sure approximation, of 400 votes, only for proportion and to grasp that the contribution is just not comparable to to disturb the democratic stability of the vote”. The governor lastly remarked that «I’ve by no means exceeded the particular competences of the our bodies and places of work in cost, I’ve by no means interfered within the free selections and selections of the themes concerned, I’ve by no means put strain on any topic, I’ve by no means served a selected curiosity to the detriment of the collective one.” Within the subsequent few days the lawyer Savi will ask for the home arrest to be revoked. Much more so for the reason that electoral marketing campaign is coming to an finish and the hazard of repeating the crime, acknowledged by the investigating decide, would robotically disappear.