Reasons for the appeal ruling
(ANSA) – REGGIO CALABRIA, 09 MAR – “There is no doubt that with the resolution in question, the City Council has in fact ordered the assignment of the services and premises of the Miramare outside the regulatory perimeter, circumventing the procedure public evidence and the comparative evaluation of specific projects envisaged for a greater guarantee of the enhancement service of a property of cultural interest”. This was affirmed by the appeal judges in the motivations of the sentence of the “Miramare” trial with which the suspended mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Falcomatà, was sentenced to one year in prison, with suspended sentence, for abuse of office. In the first instance, one year and four months’ imprisonment had been inflicted on Falcomatà.
The proceeding against Falcomatà, mayor also of the metropolitan city and suspended from both offices on the basis of the Severino law, arose from an investigation by the Public Prosecutor of Reggio Calabria into the alleged offenses in the award procedures, in 2015, of the Grand Hotel Miramare , owned by the municipality, to the “Il sottoscala” association, attributable to the entrepreneur Paolo Zagarella. At the center of the investigations, in particular, the alleged relations between Falcomatà and Zagarella, who, on the occasion of the 2014 municipal elections, had granted the mayor free of charge some premises owned by him to house the political secretariat.
Together with Falcomatà, in the same trial, seven former councilors, Saverio Anghelone, Armando Neri, Rosanna Maria Nardi, Giuseppe Marino, Giovanni Muraca, Agata were sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment, again for abuse of office and with suspended sentence. Quattrone and Antonino Zimbalatti.
The entrepreneur Zagarella himself, the former municipal secretary Giovanna Antonia Acquaviva and the former manager Maria Luisa Spanò were also sentenced to the same sentence.
According to the Court of Appeal, presided over by Lucia Monaco, Falcomatà “was the real director and dominus of the affair”. In fact, according to the second instance judges, the assignment of the Miramare “to his friend Zagarella” was the “true objective of the criminal plan promoted by Falcomatà”.
“The personal interest of Falcomatà in the result of the procedure relating to the assignment of the premises of the prestigious Miramare structure to his friend Zagarella is evident – the appeal sentence continues. on the one hand it translated into an immediate economic advantage for the latter, on the other it was likely to turn a personal gain in favor of Falcomatà himself, that of securing his own electoral base and analogous political support in the subsequent electoral rounds, as well as a way to ingratiate himself with his friend by showing him gratitude, reciprocating his continuous support and his unconditional availability”.
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