Heavier sentences for Rollandin, Baccega and Perron. Also confirmed three acquittals
The convictions inflicted in the Court of Auditors in 2018 on politicians accused of having caused tax damage to the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta by providing loans to the Casino de la Vallée Spa, despite the difficult economic situation of the Saint-Vincent company, were confirmed on appeal. However, the Third Central Judicial Section of the Court of Auditors has reduced the quantification of the total damage, lowering it from 30 to 16 million euros referring to the capital increase of the company (the prosecutor contested 140 million). Consequently, the sums that individuals will have to pay to reimburse the damage caused to the Region’s coffers have changed.
The heaviest sentences remain against the former president of the Region Augusto Rollandin and the former budget councilors Mauro Baccega and Ego Perron, who will each have to pay 2.4 million euros (in the first instance they were 4.5 million each). Marco Vierin, Aurelio Marguerettaz, Andrè Lanièce, Emiliy Rini, Luca Bianchi, Joël Farcoz, David Follien, Giuseppe Isabellon, Marilena Péaquin, Renzo Testolin, Antonio Fosson, Pierluigi Marquis, Leonardo La Torre, Claudio Restano and Stefano Borrello will have to pay 586,666 euros each. .
Also confirmed the acquittal for senator Albert Lanièce, Raimondo Donzel, Ennio Pastoret and for the regional manager Peter Bieler.
In the sentence, the judicial panel confirmed the gross negligence. The decision of the court of first instance “who found gross negligence in the decision to proceed with the capital increase of the subsidiary must be confirmed”, reads the sentence. “The regional councilors who approved the capital increase – explains the judging panel – were fully aware of the financial situation of the company, of its continuous deterioration, despite the loans disbursed in 2012 (30 million euros) and in 2013 (10 million of euro), of the criticalities of the financial statements in which prepaid taxes had been unduly allocated “.
In the case in question, the behavior of the politicians “proved to be seriously imprudent and lacking the necessary diligence that must characterize the action of public officials, honorary or career, in the management of public assets”.
At the same time, the judges highlighted the “obvious groundlessness” of the good faith of the regional councilors. “It is evident, in fact – always reads in the sentence -, that the in-depth and specific knowledge of the very serious corporate situation and the adoption of an incongruous choice of financing for the company, in line with the previous ones that had not achieved positive results, confirms the existence of serious negligence and neglect, certainly not good faith, in those who, despite their actual awareness, have acted in contrast with the interests of the entity “.
With the sentence filed on July 30, the judicial panel also ordered the conversion into attachment of the preservation seizure decided by the Judicial Section of the Court of Auditors in 2018.
Marco Camilli
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