MILAN. There is already a name in the register of suspects. It is that of the Venezuelan consul in Milan Gian Carlo Di Martino. It would have been he, in fact, the alleged intermediary of the illicit financing to the Five Star Movement. And it is precisely on the network of intermediaries that the investigations of the magistrates are concentrated, waiting to know if Spain will give the green light to the interrogation of the former Venezuelan 007 chief Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal who, with his testimony and the documents he allegedly in his hand, he is already making Podemos tremble.
The alleged diplomatic suitcase with 3.5 million euros to finance the M5S, according to what was reconstructed by the ABC, would remain in the hands of the consul Di Martino, before ending up in those of the late Gianroberto Casaleggio, “promoter of a left movement, revolutionary and anti-capitalist ». The exchange would have taken place in 2010, the very year in which, on 12 April, Di Martino arrived in Milan, after having been mayor of Maracaibo, his hometown.
Fifty-six years old, still in office, interviewed as early as June 2020, when the scandal exploded, Di Martino has always rejected all accusations, claiming that he never even met the Casaleggio family, nor Gianroberto, who died in 2016, nor Davide, who is now fighting with complaints to defend the name of the father. The deputy Maurizio Romanelli and the prosecutor Cristiana Roveda in this file hypothesize the accusations of money laundering and illegal financing of the party. But, from what is known, Di Martino is not new to the Milanese courtroom. Two years ago he ended up on trial, with a forced indictment by the investigating judge, for stalking two women: a colleague and a consulate employee. Threats and persecutions that would have been unleashed, according to the complaint presented in 2017, just when the victims raised doubts about its management of finances “through procedures that did not respect internal protocols and were wrong”.
The reported facts date back to January 2016. A period in which Di Martino’s colleague allegedly detected “profound administrative irregularities that suggest an embezzlement of funds from the Venezuelan state”. There is talk of people hired illegally, salaries given even to those who actually did not work, even expenses budgeted for a ceremony never held, complete with photographers, interpreters and catering for the Milanese authorities.
“In reality I have always had the suspicions that the money that came from Venezuela was destined for other things of a non-institutional nature but before I could not verify it personally”, the colleague who at the time reported the alleged irregularities to the Ministry of Venezuelan foreigners, starting administrative investigations against Di Martino. But neither those nor the criminal trial seem to have interfered in any way with his diplomatic career.
The consul, in the course of the investigations of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Gdf, would never have been questioned. On the other hand, some members of the M5S, who have been asked to reconstruct the nature of their relations with Maduro and Venezuela, have already been heard as people informed about the facts.