Investigations on donations of money to the foundation
(ANSA) – FLORENCE, 11 OCT – New names on the register of suspects in the investigation of the Florence prosecutor’s office on the Open foundation that was created to support Matteo Renzi’s political initiatives. Accused of influence trafficking the lawyer Luca Casagni Lippi, whose studio in Florence was searched in recent days, and the film entrepreneur Alessandro Di Paolo. The accusation, according to what has been learned, is contested against them in competition with the former president of Open, the lawyer Alberto Bianchi.
The facts disputed by the prosecution relate to the years 2016 and 2017 and, according to the investigations, would concern donations of money made to the Open foundation by companies referable to the film entrepreneur Di Paolo for a total amount estimated at around 280,000 euros.
For the prosecution, these donations of money would not have been voluntary contributions but would have been paid as the result of agreements between the entrepreneur, the lawyer Casagni Lippi and the lawyer Bianchi. From the investigations it emerges that the then president of Open, the lawyer Bianchi, would have obtained the donations by exploiting his relations with the Hon. Luca Lotti, who at the time of the events was undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers as well as secretary of the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE). Lotti, to whom the prosecutors are already contesting the crime of corruption in relation to other episodes, is in any case not investigated in this branch of the investigation. (HANDLE).