Sistema Sorrento, thirteen sent to trial: Kidea owner and two municipal officials among defendants
The judge at Torre Annunziata has set 29 October for the preliminary hearing for 13 alleged accomplices of former mayor Coppola in the "Sistema Sorrento" corruption case.
Hearing set for 29 October: thirteen defendants in the "Sistema Sorrento" case
Judge Riccardo Sena at Torre Annunziata has set 29 October for the next preliminary hearing in the "Sistema Sorrento" investigation. According to Il Fatto Quotidiano – Cronaca, public prosecutor Giuliano Schioppi has requested trial for 13 people accused of acting in concert with former mayor of Sorrento Massimo Coppola and his close collaborator Raffaele Guida, nicknamed "Lello il Sensitivo".
The thirteen — entrepreneurs, politicians, front men and public employees — face charges of varying degrees of corruption, bid rigging and embezzlement. For Coppola and Guida the proceedings are on a separate track: their trial with abbreviated procedure, together with architect Vincenzo Rescigno, will begin on 6 October. Judge Maria Ausilia Sabadino previously dramatically rejected a plea agreement for five years, which the Prosecutor's Office led by Nunzio Fragliasso had already approved.
The Kidea owner among the new defendants
Among the most prominent names is Raffaele Guarino, owner of Kidea at the time of the facts — a communications company active at national level that also works for Naples City Council and in organising events at the Maritime Station. Guarino is accused of having brokered, on behalf of Guida and following a meeting in architect Rescigno's office, a bribe with entrepreneur Alessandro Di Domenico: 6% of the amount for street maintenance works by the city. Guarino is already under house arrest on other charges that emerged from a precautionary order issued last May, relating to bribes for works, supplies and contracts around the Teatro Tasso and marketing campaigns for the promotion of the territory.
The municipal technical office under scrutiny
The request for trial also involves directors and officials of the technical office of Sorrento City Council Filippo Di Martino and Luigi Desiderio, whose charges concern the redevelopment contract for the former Le Tore heliport. As part of the same case, engineer Graziano Maresca was also involved, but the prosecutor has ordered his case severed, a prelude to a request for dismissal.
The political front: Sorrentino and Esposito
On the political front is former city councillor Vincenzo Sorrentino, Coppola's right-hand man and accountant of the studio that hosted the association "La Fenice", defined by investigators as the "cash machine" of the former mayor, whose accounts were allegedly used for holidays and luxury purchases. Also in the list of defendants is Gennaro "Ze Ze" Esposito, considered by the Prosecutor's Office as de facto co-manager of the same association and among Coppola's closest loyalists, both in relations with local politics and in business.
Other defendants and contested contracts
Completing the list before the judge are entrepreneurs Mario Parlato, Luigi Todisco, Michele Zambelli, Luigi Di Palo, cousins Aniello Vanacore and "front man" president of La Fenice Danilo Amitrano, subsequently hired by the City Council. The charges concern contracts and awards relating to Ibsen Park, the redevelopment of the space in front of the Elderly Centre, street and cemetery lighting and maintenance, the supply of 342 armchairs for the Teatro Tasso and the restoration of the footpath on the Bastone Parsiano.
The records filed include the very recent findings of investigations by the Guardia di Finanza of Massa Lubrense, led by captain Francesco Tartaglione, who is about to take up a significant post in Rome: on 7 September he will hand over command to captain Chiara Mangifesta. The latest report from the Finance Guard is dated 16 June.
The largest bribe: 60,000 euros
The largest bribe contested in the investigation amounts to 60,000 euros: the one that Parlato allegedly paid to Guida in several tranches, equal to 7% of a contract. Il Sensitivo allegedly then passed part of it to Coppola, according to the prosecution's theory. The former mayor allegedly thus transformed Sorrento City Council into a systematic bribery machine, pushing the authority to the brink of the risk of dismissal for criminal infiltration.
Source: Il Fatto Quotidiano - Cronaca