And “change of course” on abuse of office. It is the heart of a bill presented by Forza Italia. In the force plan, the criminal relevance of the crime is reduced by canceling the so-called “abuse of advantage”. In essence, anyone who benefits or disadvantages someone with an administrative act would no longer be punished, as in the law in force which, according to the Azzurri, “as well as obsolete” is “harmful in terms of the pending judgment”. It is proposed to limit the offense by specifying that it must take place “knowingly”, and causing “directly” unjust damage to others.
The text proposed by Roberto Pella, vice president of Anci, Alessandro Cattaneo, former mayor of Pavia and Pittalis, aims to modify article 323 of the penal code, emphasizing that the crime of abuse of office, as currently formulated, «from time is the cause of paralysis or slowdown of the public administration». The FI deputies recall that the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, exposing the guidelines of his dicastery, highlighted that “only 3% of convictions emerge from the data relating to abuse of office, while the statistics indicate 5,400 proceedings in the 2021, concluded with 9 convictions before the investigating judge and 18 in the hearing”.
Nordio himself, they add, “sensitive to the concerns and requests recently advanced by the mayors, highlighted that “the only consequence is the risk of being investigated”, noting the need to “abandon the idea of protecting the good performance of the pa with threat of punishment”, and recalling the appeals of the mayors of various political parties in the direction of a reform of these crimes”. The proposed changes “pursue the dual objective of reducing the criminal relevance, which would cancel the so-called abuse “, that is to elaborate an administrative act that benefits someone or disadvantages him, which characterizes the law in the text currently in force and which for the same reason appears not only obsolete, but also harmful in terms of the pending judgment”.
Furthermore, with regard to the profile of the offender’s abstention, they explain, the crime is circumscribed by specifying that this must take place “knowingly”, and it is specified that unjust damage must be caused “directly” to others. A modification “in order to reduce the useless effects of the crime in its current formula, specifying that there must be effective direct damage, aimed at a single person”. According to the FI deputies, “the changes are necessary to bring about a change of course desired by many and to overcome one of the many critical issues of Italian justice which, rather than giving new impetus to the public administration, and, through it, pursuing recovery objectives economy of our country, create damage and fuel dysfunctions”.