EBOLI – They worked at the cemetery without having a title anymore. And they would have collected 300 thousand euros for probably useless work. Four suspects who received the notice of conclusion of investigations relating to the story of the Eboli cemetery. Three municipal managers ended up in the file of the prosecutor Maria Chiara Minerva: the engineer Lucia Rossi, the engineer Rosario La Corte, now retired, the engineer Giuseppe Barrella, all three taking turns in the direction of the Heritage sector of the Municipality. The fourth accused is the entrepreneur Cosimo Martiniano, director of the New Ecology Service cooperative. The four Ebolitans are accused of false ideology and abuse of office. The works at the Eboli cemetery, carried out on several occasions between 2013 and 2017, without the holding of a tender, which took place only in May 2018, would have resulted in gains for the cooperative managed by Martiniano of about 300 thousand euros.
The investigation started with a series of complaints handed over to the Guardia di Finanza, which acquired the documents and carried out investigations, bringing to light what would appear to be a real system to circumvent the rules on public procurement. In a first period, between 2013 and 2015, the cooperative was the holder of a regular contract. According to the findings of the Fiamme Gialle, although the contract provided for a fixed and invariable amount of compensation, the so-called “lump sum” settlement, the officials still gave an additional sum of money, about 100 thousand euros, “justified” by some variations carried out in course of work by the cooperative, without ever carrying out any technical expertise regarding the actual need and actual execution of the same. As if this were not enough, the cooperative continued to carry out work in the cemetery, both for maintenance and management, even after the natural expiry of the contract. And just in this period the same coop was paid a further 200 thousand euros, in the total absence of an extension or renewal measure in the assignment of the works themselves by the municipal body.
Only in April 2018 was there an official extension, followed then, finally, by the public tender which took place the following month. An attitude that, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Salerno, would have prevented the launch of a new administrative procedure aimed at experimenting with a tender for the choice of a new contractor to whom to entrust the execution of the works in question, “In disregard of the principles of economy, effectiveness, transparency and proportionality that govern contracts and the performance of the Public Administration”. The documentation relating to the investigations and investigations conducted by the Guardia Di Finanza was also sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Auditors who will have to rule on any damage to the tax authorities.
Stefania Battista