Rome, 13 July 2021 – The former premier and leader of Iv Matteo Renzi – according to an anticipation of ‘Tomorrow’ – is under investigation for illegal financing e false invoices together with the VIP manager Lucio Presta. According to the newspaper, “the prosecutor of Rome entered the leader of Italia Viva in the register of suspects a few weeks ago, regarding an investigation into the economic relations between Renzi and the television agent”. At the center of the investigation, he always reveals Tomorrow, the bank transfers of the documentary “Firenze according to me”, which ended in 2019 in a UIF anti-money laundering report.
L’Espresso reported two years ago as Presta, for the television project aired on Discovery, “turned over almost half a million to Renzi euro, a figure that appeared out of the market. Not only – underlines the ‘Domani’ – if compared to the sums paid by famous conductors such as Alberto Angela, but also compared with what was collected by Presta from Discovery: if at the time sources inside the broadcaster revealed that the documentary presented by the politician had been bought for a few thousand euros, today it turns out that Arcobaleno Tre (the company of Presta and his son Niccolò – also investigated) has made Discovery an invoice for just one thousand euros, which among other things has not yet been collected “.
In practice, says the newspaper, “the documentary, which cost nearly a million of euros between Renzi’s compensation and production costs, to date has not cashed in anything. The money obtained by the friend Presta, former organizer of the Leopolda, instead, they served Renzi, in the autumn of 2018, to repay part of the € 700,000 loan he had received from the Maestrelli family for the purchase of the villa in Florence. An anomalous loan that ended up in the meshes of anti-money laundering (the money was transferred by the Maestrelli through the current account of the elderly mother, and from here ended up on those of the Renzi), but in that case the Florence prosecutor did not recognize the details of the financing illegal, despite the fact that the final recipient of the loan (a politician) was not reported in the 2018 financial statements of the company of the Maestrelli from which the provision was made “as required by the law on the financing of politics”.
“Lend, at the time – writes the newspaper – he justified himself by saying that the operation was for him ‘Florence in my opinion’ was an investment over time, and that the rights to the documentary (which made less than 2% share) had in his opinion a significant economic value, and unquestionable. Renzi for his part has always explained to his entourage that it is not his business if Presta wants to pay him like a movie star like Benigni or Giancarlo Giannini “.
The prosecutor of Rome, however, notes the newspaper, “wants to see clearly on the regularity of the operation. The major suspicions do not so much concern the documentary, given that the product – beyond the anomalous and off-market fees for the host-author – has certainly been made and aired. The doubts affect above all – writes ‘Domani’ – two other contracts and related transfers of hundreds of thousands of euros in favor of Renzi, discovered after a tax audit at the Arcobaleno Tre headquarters. Money paid by the manager’s company to the former prime minister for the sale of image rights and for some television projects that the two should have done together “.
In the search decree of the Presta and their Arcobaleno Tre, prosecutors Alessandro Di Taranto and Gennaro Varone “speak of ‘fictitious contractual relationships, with the issuance and annotation of invoices relating to non-existent operations, also aimed at making savings tax, consisting in the use as deductible costs inherent to the business activity hidden costs of the financing of the policy. ‘The hypothesized programs have never been made, and above all – concludes the newspaper – the payments to the politician have not been registered balance”.
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