May 31, 2006

12 - Gardini

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: What was the trigger that made Gardini take his own life?

ADP: An act of pride. His action must have been an act of pride. This is the idea that came to me. Gardini passed a whole night knowing that the following day he would be arrested. A night in which he understood that his whole world was about to finish. This was something we had not reckoned with. I hadn’t, nor had his lawyers.
Up until that time, we judges knew only a small segment of the Enimont proceedings. We didn’t by then know exactly to whom the 150,000,000,000 of the maxi-bribe went. In fact we didn’t even know of the existence of a bribe of that size.
We didn’t even know of the existence of the missing 63,000,000,000 that Cusani said he had given back to Gardini: whether it was true or not, it’s certain that someone must have taken this money.
However Gardini knew this and more. He knew about the relationship between Montedison and the Rome constructor Bonifaci. He probably knew about the intrigues surrounding the accountant Melpignano and about the buying and selling of property Montedison-Bonifaci and so on.
There was a mountain of stuff he should have come to tell the magistrates. Thus I believe that his has an instinctive reaction. I believe that it was not meditated, that it was a desperate gesture, a challenge, a final clamorous act of a great protagonist on the scene. Of course, up until a few minutes before, he was getting ready to come to the Procura {Prosecutor’s office}.

GV: However, the pistol was found on an item of furniture, far away from the body. Have you never had any suspicion about the suicide?

ADP: No. Gardini’s was a real suicide. I’m certain of that. I arrived straight away, a few minutes after the death. Because as I said, I was waiting for him in my office at Palazzo di Giustizia {Palace of Justice}, at 500 metres from his house.
And I could listen to the witnesses straight away. There were the service personnel. As soon as the domestic staff realised what had happened, while attempting to resuscitate him, they moved the pistol and put it on a small table.

GV: Did someone admit that they had moved the pistol?

ADP: Yes. It’s been proved. It’s all proved. My colleague Licia Scagliarini of the Procura di Milano {Milan Prosecutor’s office} conducted an investigation within the investigation. Everything was reconstructed. Even the final phone calls made by Gardini using the telephone accounts.
...
I really believe that his was a sudden and desperate action by a gambler who realised that he had lost the final game and who felt he had arrived at the end of the road.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 30, 2006

Life Senators

I want to express my absolute opposition to the proposals made in recent days about the nomination of Silvio Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi as life senators.

The proposals were put forward by the DS for the former President of the Council and by the director of the Padania for the leader of the Lega. I must say that I do not approve of either. I find the former choice to be bizarre, if not actually offensive. It comes from a party that justly opposed a series of actions performed by the person who they are supporting as a candidate for life senator. These are actions that have strongly damaged the activity of the magistrates and have worked in favour of personal interests.
At one time, life senators were considered like Fathers of the Nation, persons with high moral values with a great sense of the State.
The cases proposed relate to a person who has been convicted and sentenced to 8 months in prison for bribes related to Enimont and the other who has been found guilty of various crimes for which the time delay was too long (and thus “prescritto”) and who was at one time a member of the P2.

Is this the example that we want to give to our citizens? That the highest positions in terms of representation, should be given to people who have broken the law?

Do we want to associate with the names of Montalcini and Ciampi those of Berlusconi and Bossi? Already in Parliament there are almost 20 who have been convicted. Let’s not make the situation worse with life senators who are “prescritto” or convicted.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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May 29, 2006

11 - Suicides

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: You’ve said that during the Mani Pulite {Clean Hands} investigation you didn’t make use of abuse or threats but unfortunately some people did commit suicide. The first one was the socialist parliamentarian, Sergio Moroni, then the president of ENI, Gabriele Cagliari and finally Raul Gardini. Do you not feel that you had some responsibility for all this? Have you never felt any remorse for these suicides?

ADP: This story of suicides is very delicate. Let’s consider these three cases. It’s in examining these three cases that we can see how such tragic, serious and desperate facts were used to delegitimise Mani Pulite.
Bettino Craxi started off in relation to Moroni. Let’s read the letter that Moroni wrote before taking his own life. That letter did nothing to save the party.
What did Moroni say? In essence he said: ‘I’m committing suicide because I’ve got into a tangle in such a way that I can’t understand anything any more; because I’ve finished up in a mechanism in which I feel I’m being squeezed; because I feel oppressed by the party system and the investigation system…’
But for all that you cannot blame the investigator, anyone doing their duty as a magistrate. Be careful: Moroni was not in prison, nor was he about to go to prison. He found out that there were investigations relating to him and he collapsed, not because anyone was holding him, but because he realised that his name had come out in the open.
The truth is that inside the parties, certain people were used in such a way that at the end, it was they who felt shame. They felt the weight of their responsibility to such a point that they had to finish it. No one was accused for vendetta. No one has suffered threats or violence.

GV: However, Gabriele Cagliari was in prison when he committed suicide…

ADP: The Cagliari case was even more incredible, because his suicide has always been put down to Di Pietro and the team of magistrates; but at that time Cagliari was not being held in prison by us.
He was part of the Mani Pulite investigation, but we had already released him. Cagliari was in prison because he was responsible for crimes of corruption and other crimes that had plenty of evidence. No further action was taken on those after his death for that very reason.
But he wasn’t innocent and in fact his wife then returned the money that he had hidden in secret current accounts in Switzerland. We had found them and we had blocked them when the money was still deposited abroad. There’s proven evidence of his guilt.
Then, however, we freed him, because the needs for precaution were no longer there. In the meantime other restrictive measures were applied to him by other judges and he had to stay in prison. Those crimes too had much associated evidence and his accomplices were then also found guilty.
When Cagliari died he was no longer detained as a result of the action of the Mani Pulite team!

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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Cuffaro and the incinerators in Sicily

Salvatore Raiti member of the Lower House and coordinator of IdV in the region of Sicily has made the following statement about Cuffaro. I agree wholeheartedly.

“Cuffaro is without shame. Only three days before the closure of the election campaign he is performing actions that are illegitimate and are possibly illegal.

It’s not understandable how in his role of Commissioner Delegate for the Refuse Emergency, he can promulgate the ordinance n. 482 of 22.05.2006 (just a week before the regional elections) authorising the construction of thermovalorisation plants in Sicily. This is without waiting for the order of the regional TAR {Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale = Regional Administrative Tribunal} as well as a motion approved by the Region of Sicily that are in a directly opposite direction.

Let Cuffaro then explain what legitimate interest he has, to justify the communication about this order on the same day. He sent a fax to the company that is to construct the thermovalorisation plants. This was done the same day at 4:33pm!

With the thousand million Euro that would be needed to construct these installations and with the health of the people of Sicily we must not play games. For this reason, I ask the Minister of the Environment and the President of the Council to intervene directly to restore the rule of law, to withdraw from Cuffaro the position of extraordinary Commissioner Delegate and to revoke this order immediately.”

I reserve the right to evaluate whether there are the appropriate conditions to bring this to the attention of the criminal magistrates in relation to abuses that may have occurred.
Furthermore I will ask the Minister of the Environment to take action as soon as possible and I will take the issue to the Council of Ministers.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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10 - The ‘rattling of handcuffs’

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: You have established that you didn’t use preventive incarceration as a way of getting a confession from a suspect. But during the Mani Pulite {Clean Hands} enquiry you were also accused of using threats and violence towards suspects. Can you frankly exclude ever having jangled a set of handcuffs in front of the eyes of a suspect?

ADP: Apart from the fact that none of us actually had a set of handcuffs available, I can exclude it even in a metaphorical sense. Our method of investigation was not designed to force the willingness of the suspect; rather it was designed to get consent. What we were aiming for in fact was to get the defendant to work alongside us, to get their complicity. Today I smile bitterly to see so many former lawyers who make useless attacks against the Milan pool {the team of magistrates in Milan} and I still remember some of them when they came to the Procura {office of the prosecutors} to persuade myself or one of the team to receive their clients as they couldn’t hold out any longer. They had an attack of “overflowing speech”. They were great lawyers who now pretend to have forgotten. Perhaps they’ve even become parliamentarians on the Left or the Right and perhaps they attack the magistracy, one day yes and the next as well. Whereas at that time they were queuing up to bring their clients to us.

GV: To whom was President Scalfaro referring, in his inaugural speech at the end of 1997 when he criticised the magistrates for the ‘rattling of handcuffs’?

ADP: There’s no doubt that he intended to refer to us, but it’s just as sure that he made a mistake. Scalfaro, President Scalfaro. I am still perplexed, very perplexed about this way he had of behaving. Sometimes he was supportive and at other times he was critical. He had an attitude like that of Pontius Pilate in relation to Mani Pulite. I also remember that straight after I had resigned as a magistrate, I was called on a number of occasions to the Quirinale {official residence of the President of the Republic}. But the President wasn’t much interested in expressing his understanding nor his solidarity. He was more concerned to understand what I intended to do.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 26, 2006

The speech of the President of the Confindustria

I would like to summarise the points made by the President of the employers association Confindustria, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who was speaking at Confindustria's annual general meeting and to add my comments.

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo’s main points were:
- contain expenditure
- no increase in fiscal pressure
- equilibrium in public financing
- discussions between economic and social players for development
- greater autonomy for companies
- reduction of the tax wedge {taxes paid by employer for each employee}
- keep the Biagi Law but adding in social sweeteners
- development of big engineering works even in the face of local opposition
- deficit of infrastructure in the north and the issue of the North
- encouragement of bank mergers
- privatisation and liberalisation
- fight against tax evasion
- no to the spoils system
- constitutional reforms aimed at modernising the organisation and the operation of public institutions

It’s easy to share many of these aspirations, in particular those relating to the spoils system, limits on public expenditure, the fight against tax evasion, reduction of the tax wedge, and encouragement of bank mergers.
It’s possible to share others only partly, like the development of big engineering works, considered necessary “a priori” without any evaluation in a complex picture of the needs of the country and of the economic possibilities; keeping the Biagi Law without adding in strong correctives arising from principles of solidarity; the privatisation of companies without precise guarantees for citizens at the level of services and employment, so as not to repeat the errors of the past.

Other aspects are absent from the speech of the President of Confindustria. One of these is the Mezzogiorno {the South of Italy}. Without a revival in the South, through the construction of infrastructure, and the return to the rule of law, Italy cannot develop. Furthermore, there seemed to be a lack of self criticism in the speech. Companies cannot totally exclude themselves as responsible for the current difficult economic situation. I refer in particular to the modest investments in terms of innovation and research and to the scarcity of integration between the system of industry and the universities.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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May 25, 2006

Italy at risk and electoral opposition

The Gross Domestic Product of the Euroland countries will grow in 2006 by 2.7% and in 2007 by 2.1%. For Italy it will grow by 1.4% and 1.3% respectively in the same 2 years. If there are no structural interventions Italy will have a budget deficit of 4.2% and 4.6% in the next 2 years. These are the estimates of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

These are worrying estimates that we have been expecting for months and discussing on this site. If we consider the election promises of the CDL about ICI {Imposta Comunale Immobili = local tax on housing}, taxes on rubbish collection, and the declarations of the former President of the Council about the legality in certain circumstances of not paying the taxes, it’s understandable that we have scraped the bottom of the barrel. With the CDL in government we would not have avoided economic bankruptcy.

Many CDL people are still shouting and denying reality. This reality is outlined by international institutions. Can I remind these people that the election campaign is over. Now the country has to be governed. The moment is critical. The opposition cannot simply sit back and say the figures are false. What figures? Those provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development? By ISTAT {Istituto Nazionale di Statistica = Italian National Statistics Office}? By the European Community, the Italian Trade Commission?

Even the members of the opposition are paid by the citizens to contribute to the development of the country. I invite them to do this and to bring constructive criticism to the activity of the Prodi Government.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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May 24, 2006

The Autostrade-Abertis merger

Today I sent a letter to the president of the Autostrade (the motorway company) Gian Maria Gros Pietro asking him to postpone the discussions about the merger with Abertis. Following my request, the company has decided to call a meeting of the Board of Directors for 16 June and to wait for any contributions that might come in from institutions so that these can be put to the meeting of shareholders on 28 June.

My letter arose from the need to evaluate all the elements in the merger in the next few weeks so as to be able to express an opinion that is as complete as possible.

I would like to thank the Autostrade Board of Directors that has “offered to ANAS (Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade Statali = National Organisation to manage the State Roads) and to the governments concerned, Italian and Spanish, every assistance in clearing up any points that are required to create a full knowledge picture of the situation”.

The motorways are a primary good. They are fundamental to the development of our country. We cannot allow ownership to be handed over to a foreign company nor can we allow that the programme of investments in them is not carried out, as has happened for a variety of reasons, in recent years.

The tolls providing income from the motorways are Government concessions and increases in tolls need to be agreed with the Government. Thus it is not possible to talk of market competition. The State can and must take action to protect its citizens and that is what I, once more, promise to do.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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May 23, 2006

9 - The mafia

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

ADP: But even the business people when they had contracts in the South, they were very reluctant to speak about how things were conducted in the market for bribes down there.

GV: Were they working for the mafia?
ADP: No, not for the mafia as such. Everyone makes this error. The mafia doesn’t run businesses, in the sense that they take hold of the tools to construct roads and bridges. The mafia prefers to gather the profits from the businesses by obliging the business people to give them a percentage with the excuse of insuring the so-called “pax sociale” {social peace} in the territory. Basically, for contracts from Naples down, and especially in Sicily, the business people that we interrogated responded: ‘No, I can’t tell you. I prefer to go to prison.’ What’s the difference? In the Centre-North, the illicit agreement is between the system of businesses and the political party system; in the Centre-South however the illicit winning of contracts passes through a third party: the local business that is connected with the mafia. In Sicily, the politician does not directly collect the money from the bribes and it’s not the business person that pays directly. When there’s a big contract to be gained in the zone subject to the influence of mafia and organised crime, the national system of businesses knows that they have to go to work in a hostile territory. This can also be seen in the records of the statements made. Thus they don’t go to have a dialogue with the politician, they go to negotiate with the business association where they can find the local businessperson who guarantees the pax.
What’s the agreement? The local businessperson says: ‘You don’t simply promise to give me the 8 to 10 per cent of the profits related to the work that you are sub-contracting to me; you must also give me that “quid pluris” {plural amount} that I have to distribute partly to the local political system and partly to the mafia system that protects (that is the term used) the territory.’ This generally is how things are conducted.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 22, 2006

Interview with il Corriere della Sera

Today I spoke to Enrico Marro of il Corriere della Sera. I’m publishing the whole interview here.

ADP: Let it be clear: If I’m in the position of Minister of infrastructure, it is to deal with public works.
And for this reason, Antonio Di Pietro, returning 10 years later to the big office building at Porta Pia, as his first decision he has nominated as the head of his Cabinet Vincenzo Fortunato, who was in a similar position for the former Minister of the Economy, Giulio Tremonti.

EM: That’s a surprising choice.
ADP: We’re talking of a magistrate who worked with Visco before Tremonti. He is so capable that both the Centre Left and the Centre Right have taken advantage of his talents. I knew him when I was a magistrate. But I chose him also because I will need to have daily interaction with the Ministry of the Economy.

EM: Why?
ADP: Because I can construct public works only if the money is available, if it’s allocated to the appropriate budgets, if it’s not “creative”. And who better than Fortunato who can stay alert to all this?

EM: In the North, there’s fear that there’ll be a slowing down or even a stop to public works.
ADP: Romano Prodi has put as the top priority, the revival of the economy and of the Mezzogiorno {the South of Italy}. The infrastructures are fundamental for competitiveness. But first we have to get a hold on the money situation. This is why I’ve already set up two working groups. The first is to see how much money is really available. The second is to monitor the public works that are currently being done and to see how they are progressing. This is also being done for those that have not yet been started.

EM: And will the TAV in Val di Susa go ahead?
ADP: Let me finish what I was saying. Within 60 days I will go with the appropriate General Directors, to each Region to meet the governors, the administrations, the associations, the trades unions of the locality to see how to revive the infrastructures. In this way we will do a plan for the priority activity and I will take that to the Council of Ministers and to the Parliamentary Commissions. This is why I deplore the declarations of one Minister or another who say: “This will be done and that won’t.”

EM: The TAV?
ADP: The TAV is a collection of national and international activities approved by the European Commission and necessary for the country. We need to see how we can put it all into action while respecting the environment and the health of the population with the resources that are available.

EM: You normally speak clearly, but as regards infrastructure all the Centre Left seems ambiguous. Even in relation to the Bridge over the Straits, what does it mean that it isn’t a priority? You may as well say that it won’t go ahead.
ADP: The Bridge on its own would have no sense. To connect Trapani with Northern Europe isn’t feasible, but we need to see if the Bridge is a priority in relation to the Salerno-Reggio Calabria, to the Brescia-Milano, to the ring roads round the big cities. To simplify something into “This will be done and that won’t.” is a play on words that plays on the feelings of the citizens.

EM: The Transport Minister, Alessandro Bianchi, has been clear. He said the Bridge will not be done.
ADP: This is not something I decide, nor do any of the other individual Ministers decide. It’s a decision to be taken by the whole Government and by Parliament. That is why I talk of hurried declarations. There’s no conflict between Bianchi and me. In fact we are going to meet up on Monday to discuss who is going to deal with what. It’ll be necessary to turn to the Ministry of Public Works for some things and to the Transport Ministry for others.

EM: Has this been a way of parcelling out Ministries so as to give an “armchair” to the Pdci?
ADP: History will tell whether the parcelling out was the correct choice. It’s necessary to divide up competencies, personnel and resources. I hope that all this will happen not in years, in months but in a few days.

EM: Is it true that you will not delegate responsibilities to the vice minister Angelo Capodicasa?
ADP: Capodicasa, you say. There’s an agreement with President Prodi by which there will be no vice ministers in my Ministry. There’ll be just under secretaries, because the centre of political responsibility must be one.

EM: Italia dei Valori has voted its confidence in the government, but the problem of finding a position for Leoluca Orlando has not been resolved.
ADP: Orlando is not a problem but a resource. As soon as possible, he will be used to his full capacity.

EM: Minister, Prodi has announced the halving of the auto blu {dark blue cars used for important government dignitaries}.
ADP: I’ve already taken action in this respect. I will only use the service car when I’m carrying out my duties. I have already asked for an account of how many cars there are and who uses them and why. Do you know something? Yesterday I had to go to Brindisi for the election campaign and at the Ministry they offered me the chance to use the State aeroplane. Obviously I refused.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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May 21, 2006

The former Ministry of Italians Abroad

Please excuse my silence in the last few days. This is a pause due to a continuous succession of events such as being nominated Minister, the vote of confidence for the new Government and my participation in the election campaign.

Next week I will give a detailed explanation of my position as Minister of Infrastructure including what my responsibilities are and what I aim to achieve.

Today I would like to discuss Italia dei Valori’s position regarding the Ministry of Italians abroad. This position has been partially reported but not accurately.

This Ministry was created by the Centre Right and has been abolished by the Prodi Government. Italians abroad represent an enormous human, political and economic resource. They occupy important positions in many governments. They own and manage companies. They maintain a strong link with their mother country, even though it is often not merited. Numerically, there are more of them than Italians resident in Italy. Without their vote we would still have Berlusconi in government.

IdV had asked for a strengthening of the Ministry with its own portfolio.

We have made known our disappointment to Romano Prodi concerning his decision to abolish it, but our vote of confidence in the government, as I have already declared, has never been in doubt.
Prodi has subsequently declared that the attention to our compatriots abroad will not be reduced and that a vice minister ad hoc will be nominated and a budget will be allocated within the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has said that this nomination will permit greater integration with existing structures, with the use of funds and the possibility to have solid initiatives.

We acknowledge Prodi’s affirmation, which however must be followed up by the facts. To demonstrate that IdV has not just been conducting discussions relating to “armchairs” but to principles, we have not asked for the position of vice minister of Italians abroad, nor will we accept such a position.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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May 19, 2006

8 – Arrested for Hours

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: So you started to put people in prison to force them to talk.

ADP: Nothing could be further from the truth. And even the Corte di Cassazione {Supreme Court} confirmed this by turning down the appeals against the actions of the pool {the team of magistrates}. Almost all of our arrest requests had one characteristic: they were “ad horas” {for a number of hours}. Often the person under interrogation went to prison in the morning and was out by the evening. At the most they were in prison for a few days. Our arrests weren’t designed to keep them in prison for long. The motivation for them was that at that precise time the businessperson could do one of two things: He could disturb the evidence or he could come to us and confess. Once I had discovered that in your company you’ve got slush funds, once you know that I know your current account details, once it has been established that you have been part of a corruption mechanism for some time, you become a person who is socially dangerous because for years you have been carrying on this activity and you can thus take action to disturb the evidence.

GV: But why did you let people out after just a few hours?

ADP: Because, once there were there, we called for them and
we said: ‘This is the situation of the judicial investigation relating to you and these are the dangers that you could disturb the evidence needed to prove the case against you, this is clear, beyond discussion, because for twenty years you have been doing this activity and obviously you have relationships with many people who could be willing to do you a favour by hiding the evidence or by continuing this criminal activity.’
‘Oh no’ they said, ‘No? OK Explain why not. How can you convince me? Speak. Confess.’ Our objective was not to put people in prison to make them confess. It was to free them as soon as possible because after their statements, the corrupters under investigation were no longer in a credible position in the eyes of their accomplices. So by interrupting the chain of silence, we could justify the arrests. In this way we could demonstrate that there was no longer a danger that the evidence could be disturbed and that the crime would not be continued or repeated

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 18, 2006

7 - Slush Funds

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: So false accounting became for you the key of the problem….
ADP: When an entrepreneur hands over a wad of money to a public official it’s not his own money. It’s not from his own pocket. As much as he pulls out, that amount is coming from the company. If a bribe is to be added to a contract in which a consortium of companies are involved, the entrepreneur has to get the money from all the members of the association. There is thus a fraudulent activity of finding and collecting the funds for ends other than the normal ones of the company: so to be clear, the bribes, cannot be anything other than from slush funds.

GV: However, usually these funds are hidden in the company accounts. What system is used for finding the bribes?
ADP: That’s true. Usually the formal documentation is correct. The invoice for consultancy from Giovanni or Nicola is correct. The invoice for a false purchase is correct. However what’s needed is to see if there’s the content. If the amount paid corresponds to work done, a service or a product supplied.

GV: How did you discover this?
ADP: I thought: Let’s go to the enterprises that are the most representative, the ones that deal with the Public Administration and operate abroad where they carry out their activity off-shore so as not to leave a trace in Italy. So I chose the biggest Italian companies of this type and I went with my police to look at all the details of the accounts and the income tax declarations. Then I entered the data into computer systems. It was meticulous work carried out in the registers of companies, The Chambers of Commerce and the tax offices.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 16, 2006

Armchairs

Tomorrow the list of Ministers will be presented to the new President of the Republic. For weeks there’s been talk of the ministerial lottery, of their armchairs, a merry-go-round of names that is rarely, almost never, accompanied by an analysis of the government’s programme, of the activities to be carried out.
Italia dei Valori removed itself from this phase of negotiations straight away. To the ordinary citizen it can seem more like a fish market than a comparison of programmes and of competencies.
Italia dei Valori wants a government that is strong and capable. It wants the programme to be carried out.

Italia dei Valori is not interested in the creation of ad hoc honorary positions that are representative and without operating weight. Examples of such positions are the 2 vice Presidents of the Council that it is believed are to be attributed to Massimo D’Alema and Francesco Rutelli.
I have made available to Romano Prodi information about my capabilities and about the capabilities of people in my party. He can freely, and without pressure, decide, as it is right that he should, whether he wants to take advantage of this.
Permit me to ask other representatives of the Unione to pay more attention to the programmes and how well they can be carried out, rather than to balancing parties, armchairs and creative politics.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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6- Interrogation in Context

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: Then it’s possible to say that Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) was carried out using ICT.
ADP: The Clean Hands investigation didn’t just use ICT: it is the ICT investigation! The investigation was completely computerised to such a point that it allowed me to adopt another expedient that was fundamental to the success of the enquiries and for which in the end I finished up on trial: the interrogation in context.

GV: Is that the interrogation of a number of people in different locations all at the same time?
ADP: No, no. In fact I didn’t have more than one base. I didn’t have great resources and thus I had to get organised on my own. In a single room, we set up about a dozen personal computers to interrogate witnesses or the people under investigation. In front of each computer there was an officer of the Carabiniere or the Police or the Finance Police.

GV: That way, during the interrogation, each person couldn’t hear what the others said?
ADP: No, at least, not very well. Of course it was what we got by with. Certainly, it would have been better to have had all that in different rooms, perhaps using fibre optics, but we are talking of that time…

GV: And in this room with a dozen work positions, could you control everything through a single computer?
ADP: At the most advanced stage of the investigation, yes I could, but only partly. At the beginning we allowed those being interrogated to think so: my collaborators managed to ask the same questions to everyone because I had trained them in advance. Many believed that I could read all the responses at the same time on the video.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 15, 2006

Good Bye Pizzo

There’s a new association of courageous citizens in Sicily. It’s called Addiopizzo {Good Bye Pizzo} and it is made up of 7325 people who have decided to buy only from shops and companies that have declared that they are not subject to mafia “protection” or extortion. The first group of 104 companies includes a hotel in Palermo and its owner has already been subject to intimidation.

The pizzo {demand for money in return for protection} is an odious crime. In Sicily it has produced mortification, death, company closure, emigration, and the impossibility to attract investment. The new government must put the word “end” to this shameful activity.
Italia dei Valori is today signing up to Addiopizzo and to show its support for the initiative it will have a permanent feature of displaying on this site the names of the companies that participate. We invite Sicilians to support them.
Furthermore I ask all the party members and supporters in Sicily to give witness to their solidarity with Addiopizzo by signing up to the initiative.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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5 - ICT and Clean Hands

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: What were the external circumstances that opened up the route for the Clean Hands investigation?
ADP: Among the circumstances apart from the proceedings, there was ICT. In the early 1990’s ICT started to be used for public administration. And in my work as a magistrate with the Procura di Milano, I had acquired an ICT culture built up earlier.

GV: How did you get it? Did you do a course or were you self taught?
ADP: No – no course. I’ve never done a computer course. My computing culture came from trial and error. It came from an old passion for electronics and its application. I have a diploma in electronics. And when I’m accused of not knowing Italian and of not having gone to a High School I reply: Yes I confess. I did an electronics diploma in my free time while I was working. I haven’t studied classics. I did the electronics diploma because I was interested in the subject. Later this diploma allowed me to take part in the competition to get a job with the Military Air Force. I worked for the Ministry of Defence for 6 or 7 years. (I didn’t work for the Secret Services as some have said.) I was a technician in the laboratory dealing with first generation computers and with electronic devices. In Milan, at Linate airport, with the Division of aeronautical construction, I was testing gyroscopes and other instruments. I learned how to use the binary language of electronics, and then I transferred this competitive advantage to my work as a magistrate.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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An Amnesty is not a Priority

In a few days the new government will be formed. There are the right numbers in both Houses of Parliament. The Presidents of the Lower and Upper Houses have been installed. And the President of the Republic has been elected. The outline of the plan of action for the government is set out in the manifesto of the Unione. Now, finally, after Prodi has formally been appointed and the ministers nominated, government can proceed. The first 100 days are usually those that give the direction of the government’s action. The priorities are multiple and as the various world bodies remind us almost daily, the first priority is absolutely the economy.

I am thus saddened and surprised (but not to much) by the urgent proposal on the part of the coalition: DS (Angius and Brutti), Verdi (Boato), Rosa nel Pugno (Pannella and Bonino) to have an immediate amnesty to “liberate the prisons and to get rid of the 9 million trials that are due (Bonino)” and because “it is the right moment for a broad agreement (Brutti)”.

A broad agreement that will certainly be found with Forza Italia that is “convinced that the election of Giorgio Napolitano could be the right occasion to have an amnesty (Ghedini and Pecorelli)”.

Before an amnesty, there are things that are much more urgent that relate to honest citizens and the problems of the country. The Unione has not been elected to open up the prisons as a sign of surrender of the judicial machinery. Let’s put in action a series of reforms to improve it and to shorten trial durations and only after that should we evaluate if and how we could apply any type of pardon, which is very different from an amnesty which as you remember, could relate to crimes with sentences of up to 5 years. These could be serious crimes.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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May 11, 2006

Roman holidays

Piazza Farnese

The detention of the convict Previti lasted 120 hours. The sentence of 6 years for corruption of judges with a bribe of 67,000,000,000 in the Imi-Sir affair has been transmuted to house arrest by a decision of the Surveillance Tribunal. The Tribunal deliberated “provisionally (as the decision must be ratified) and urgently”. That Previti is out of prison is thanks to the ex Cirielli. This is the tailor-made law that the CDL got approved. The law says: “the judge can allow house arrest when the convicted person is over 70 years of age and there are no contrary elements.” House arrest has also been allowed because “the crimes were committed in a time frame that is now long ago” The convict Previti can enjoy 2 hours of freedom every day. He can receive who he wants to and he can use the telephone freely. His home is in 2 floors of piazza Farnese.

The ex Cirielli is one of the many CDL laws that must be looked at in this term of the legislature considering its initial uses. It sounds like a joke that there’s a release motivated by the fact that crimes were committed a long time ago. If Previti had been tried swiftly, he would have been in prison years ago. The treatment that Previti received thanks to his age at this point must be immediately applied to all those who are more than 70 years old using an “urgent procedure”. Otherwise there would be a demonstration that once again in Italy there are two justice systems, one for the citizens and another for the politicians.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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4- Enimont’s Slush Funds

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: We were talking about the enquiry into Enimont’s slush funds and about Falcone’s suggestions about the letters rogatories.
ADP: Yes, at the time the Enimont trial was going on, at the beginning of October 1994, an important event happened that was not noticed at the time. I managed to bring Giorgio Tradati into a public hearing in the courtroom. He was a friend of Craxi who acted on his behalf and he made a series of revelations including the story about the Northern Holding account. It is a generator account (or in the language of those using Swiss Banks on behalf of others whose names must not appear, a transit account) that was later discovered to be connected in some way to the All Iberian accounts – the ones that demonstrated the economic relationship between Craxi and Berlusconi, just to be clear, even though this was denied repeatedly on numerous occasions. But how did I get Tradati into the courtroom? I didn’t invent it as a surprise theatrical event. How did he get to the courtroom that morning? Evidently something must have happened from the point of view of the enquiry. It must be that some crack had opened up.

GV: What’s the explanation of the mystery?
ADP: No. There’s nothing mysterious about it. The situation of Tradati is just an example in the Enimont-Craxi-Berlusconi case to explain how I used the learning that I had received from Falcone about letters rogatories. I was taking action in relation to corruption and false accounting. In relation to those potential crimes I got to know that there had been an interchange of money between Swiss banks, but I didn’t know who the beneficiary was. I didn’t know who had received the money. Until then, until the Strasburg Convention, in these cases there was the investigative 'coitus interruptus’. It had never been possible to get to the bottom of things to trace the movement of money in foreign countries. I contacted Swiss colleagues Perraudin and Crochet in Geneva: “I’m investigating corruption in this affair: someone has paid in money to this particular current account; but he doesn’t want to tell me” On the basis of the Strasburg Convention against money laundering, they are obliged to respond to me.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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Those who will elect the President of the Republic

photo from Repubblica.it

Today the attention of the whole country is focused on the election of the next President of the Republic with elections in the combined Houses of Parliament. The Unione has presented Giorgio Napolitano. The votes of Italia dei Valori will go to this candidate.

Having said this, I would like to reflect on the parliamentarians who have the duty to elect someone to the highest position in the State. This will influence the political life of the country for the next 7 years.

These parliamentarians were elected using proportional representation. Effectively, no citizen has given them a direct mandate. They received their mandate exclusively from the party that chose them. Many parliamentarians are released convicts. Many parliamentarians have been convicted of serious offences and are awaiting sentence. Some parliamentarians, like Formigoni for example, are carrying out their function even though it is incompatible with another. Formigoni is at the same time the President of a Region. Most parliamentarians are professional politicians. They live from politics and for politics. They are far, very far from the real problems of Italian society.

The President of the Republic represents all Italians. But today, the Italians electing him do not represent the country and nearly always they elect one of themselves.
This is a situation that needs adjusting soon, so that politics can be given back to the citizens.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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May 09, 2006

3- The Isolation of the Milan Team of Magistrates

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: Let’s continue with the collection of causes that led up to the inquiry.
ADP: OK. However let’s start off with the supposition that everything that has been written about the 'grande vecchio' {great old one} - at times the CIA, the KGB, the Church, The Christian Democrats, the Communists and so many more – is the biggest historical falsity in the world. Behind me, behind the “pool” {the team of magistrates}, there was no power, no occult force. Externally we gave an image of power, but the truth is that at that time we were dying of fear. I still remember the first parliamentarian to be investigated, Remo Gaspari. I went to the Prefecture to speak to him in the presence of the Prefect. I had to agree the boundaries of the interrogation, the questions that I could ask and those that I couldn’t. For the fifteenth or twentieth parliamentarian that we interrogated, the colleague Piercamillo Davigo looked at me and I said: “Is that it? If these are the parliamentarians, this is a job that anyone could do!”

Really, we imagined that they would have done so much preparation…. Many parliamentarians, and above all many State employees with high-level titles in the public companies, didn’t know anything. And they didn’t even know the meaning of an “avviso di garanzia” {notification of judicial investigation} and at times some didn’t even know the terms of their own job.

And I said to myself: the day they discover that there is no one behind us, these people will pass over us like a tractor. And in fact, when they realised that we were alone, that we were in the company simply of the wish to take swift action and to do it well (We were like surgeons who had to use their instruments fast so as to be able to sew up the wound.), they got out the tractor and passed over us.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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May 08, 2006

Presidential messing around

The election of the President of the Republic cannot be considered to be merchandise to be exchanged with justice. Italia dei Valori is wiling to vote for the candidate of the Unione, but not in all conditions. The interview given by Piero Fassino to Giuliano Ferrara’s Il Foglio leaves me perplexed. Very perplexed. The loyalty of Italia dei Valori in relation to the coalition is not in doubt, but at the same time our principles and our political motivation is not up for discussion. The commitment given by Fassino to the Centre Right that D’Alema as President of the Republic and thus as head of the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura (Governing body of the Judiciary), would ensure: “avoiding every short circuit between politics and justice” is not acceptable.

The judiciary and politics are 2 separate powers and in a democracy, that is how they must stay. The Unione has not won the elections in order to put the power of the Judiciary under control. After the victory of the Unione, Provenzano, Ricucci, and Previti have been imprisoned and the scandal concerning Moggi has been uncovered. As I have already said, I maintain that this is only the beginning of taking our country back to the rule of law. Perhaps someone wants to stop it already. Certainly Italia dei Valori will not accept any more messing around and that is starting now with the election of the President of the Republic.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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Cleaning up Football

The chairman of Federcalcio football federation, Franco Carraro must resign. The referees implicated in the intercepted telephone conversations must resign. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, (president of Confindustria) while representing owners, even though he has thousands of commitments, should take care of Juventus and remove the whole Board of Directors. It’s not just about. Luciano Moggi. It is completely improbable that Franzo Grande Stevens (president) Bettega (vice president) e Giraudo (Chief Executive) weren’t aware of the activities of the company’s Director.

A change at the top of the company would be all the more credible if it were to happen straight away, before the end of the football championship as it might be this Turin team that wins. To put off the decision to increase the chances of winning the championship is not the style of the Agnelli family.

What always surprises me is the reaction of those involved in these scandals. Instead of taking account of the possible offences that they are accused of and providing contradictory evidence, they attack their accusers. Giraudo says: “Our rights have been violated” and he’s related to Previti: “in prison though innocent”.
Football is not just a game. It is one of the most important industries of our country. Juventus, like other teams that could be damaged by Moggi’s behaviour, is quoted on the Stock Exchange. Football is also a way of promoting the image of Italy in the world. It’s the most popular sport on the planet. To read in the French newspaper, L’équipe the headline: “La Juve selected the referees” is bad for the sport and for our country. Especially so in this year when the World Cup is in Germany.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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2- The Lobby of 'who has passed away'

I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: Let’s return to Mario Chiesa and the scandal about Pio Albergo Trivulzio that was the trigger for the Mani Pulite enquiry.
ADP: I heard this talked about for the first time in 1987. Then, a couple of years later, the journalist, Nino Leoni wrote an article for “Il Giorno” in which he denounced the existence of a lobby for the “dear departed” in which funerals were always assigned to the same Funeral Directors with the accusation that the directors of the company were making excess profits from the charges. That caused an action for defamation. As I explained earlier, I had already been aware how the functions of self-protection of the corrupt functioned. I wanted to get to the bottom of this.
GV: How did you go about it?
ADP: Something inside me said: I have the duty to take action. Is it true what this journalist says? Or is it false? If it’s false, then its defamation. But it could be true and in that case it is abuse of power by a public official. Thus in the register of crime notification, I noted both possibilities. I asked to be allowed to tap the phones of all the suspects. In this way I discovered many interesting things… The Mario Chiesa case is thus to be seen as one link in the investigation chain that I had started off with the enquiry into Lombardia Informatica. I had initiated and carried out this enquiry using my own means so that I could understand the anomalous functioning of the relationships between the Public Administration and the entrepreneurs of Lombardy.
GV: What was it about exactly?
ADP: Lombardia Informatica is a company of the Lombardy Region. The Milan Local Government has a share in it. The investigations were carried out from 1987 to 1991 and they uncovered a series of abuses, irregularities and episodes of corruption. I managed to confiscate all the correspondence of the president, Albini and of his deputy Tonali. Albini was a man emerging from the Christian Democrats of Lombardy. Tonali was highly visible and powerful in the Socialist party of Milan. The documents confiscated were letters sent to them by politicians and from these emerged the network of interests behind this company of “convenience”. The investigation about Lombardia Informatica was the true start of Mani Pulite. This revealed to me the mechanism of “do ut des” (Latin phrase: “I give so that you give”). Then the people of power started to look for me, to get close to me. I had no power. I still didn’t know where I was placing my hands. Those who moved around that company knew very well. They definitely knew.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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Previti Convicted

The sixth section of the Corte di Cassazione {Italy’s Supreme Court} has established that Previti corrupted the judges in the Imi-Sir case. He has been sentenced to 6 years. Previti was imprisoned in the afternoon at Rebibbia. The judgement raises a series of questions on a political and institutional level. It is now clear that the previous President of the Council used Previti to corrupt judges and only because of prescription {the law about time delays before conviction} has he avoided being imprisoned. The Secretaries of the parties on the right and on the left can no longer ignore a situation that delegitimises the institutions and thus themselves. The person sending anyone to corrupt judges of the Republic cannot and must not represent anyone any longer. He must not be a spokesperson talking to the Unione for fundamental choices like the election of the President of the Republic.
Even today, Berlusconi has made the following declaration: “Let us make haste to resist the left. Let us not move back even by one step.”I maintain that rather than resisting the left, he must prepare to resist the trials that are still waiting for him and for his mates. He also need to prepare for public opnion as the public starts slowly but surely to understand the truth.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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May 06, 2006

1- The beginning

Today I’m going to start publishing some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV: What are the motives that started off the investigation at that time?
ADP: In fact the magistrates always had the possibility to start investigations. But because of a barely hidden omertà {reluctance of witnesses to give testimony}, because of a certain arrangement with the system of power, because of a lack of operational tools, every time that they started, they only managed to get to the root of a single operation. In fact they didn’t have a culture of exploratory investigation. They were limited to checking up on information that came from outside. When I arrested Mario Chiesa on 17 February 1992, not even people in my office realised what was happening and above all they were not aware that the machinery of the investigations would have been able to continue up to the point at which it eventually arrived. I remember that even the prosecutor Borelli declared publicly: “But why is there so much discussion in political environments? Anyway, Chiesa was taken red-handed. In a few days there’ll be a fast-track trial and the case will be closed.”

GV: And what altered the natural progress of events?
ADP: In the end, basically, the Mani Pulite {Clean Hands} investigation happened because I and only I, let’s say by mistake, “forgot” to present the documents in the time frame needed for “fast track”. That was the fourth or fifth time that I tried to start the engine of the investigations and I knew well that with the “fast track” we would have got the usual sentence of 7 or 8 months with a conditional and a tiny sum to be paid to recompense the victims. And everything would have finished with joy and festivities.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Interview about Tangentopoli
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Autostrade/Abertis, an operation to be stopped

Autostrade have started a process to merge with the Spanish company Abertis. In 2005, Autostrade had receipts of 2,957 million Euro and net profits of 804 million Euro with debts of 8,794 million Euro.The majority shareholders of the Autostrade company are: Edizione Holding, gruppo Benetton, 60%; UniCredito 6.7%; Abertis 13.3%; Fondazione CRT 13.3%; Assicurazioni Generali 6.7%.

I need to make a few comments:
- the Autostrade company was privatised with debts and this is very clear from its current position. Autostrade was sold to those who, since they didn’t have enough capital, got the company into debt in order to buy it. It seems like a senseless thing to do. But it happened for Autostrade as it did for Telecom Italia and I will make efforts to ensure that such a thing cannot happen in the future. When buying using debts, it means that you don’t have the capital available for investments because the profits are used to reduce the debts as well as to pay the shareholders.
- Autostrade is in fact still a monopoly company living from public concessions and is not in a free market. Because of this position it has made significant profits over these last few years.
- The new shareholders of the Autostrade company at the time of the acquisition, made a commitment with the Government to invest important sums in modernising the Italian motorways. This modernisation has been barely seen if at all.
- The money that Autostrade will receive from Abertis for merging is 1,000,000,000 Euro (half the amount it paid to buy from the Italian State). The headquarters of the new group will be in Barcelona. The CEO for the next three years will be an Abertis man: Salvador Alemany Mas. There’s talk of a right of purchase clause on the part of Abertis on the shares still held by the majority shareholders of Autostrade.

More than an alliance, it seems to be a sell out.
- the operation has been done without taking any notice of the government, not even to inform them. Above all it has not defined the Ministerial contacts.
I think it is appropriate to go back and read the conditions under which the Autostrade company was sold to the group led by Benetton to see if there are clauses that allow the Government to take part in any future sale or merger.

Anyway the company Abertis should be reminded that in Italy, the concessions for motorways are government-controlled and to say the least, to ignore the government as it has done, is not an act of courtesy.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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May 05, 2006

No to amnesty-ism

It’s not the quantity associated with the penalty but the certainty that the penalty will be applied that guarantees the application of the law. Previous governments have ignored one of the fundamental rules of civil life purely to get cash. The so-called amnesty-ism has been used as a remedy against the failure to enforce payment of taxes by citizens. The amnesty regarding tax or construction is the worst thing the State can do to honest citizens. To those who regularly pay their taxes, to those who don’t get involved with abusive construction. The amnesty is in fact a recognition by the State that it is inept. It is an unconditional surrender in relation to the dishonest, and at the same time, an implicit invitation to honest citizens to side with the widespread habits of bad behaviour. My party will oppose any suggestion of amnesty. I’m writing this in black and white even though those who know me are aware that it is superfluous. The recent tragedy in Ischia is unfortunately just one of the tragic examples that has the amnesty-ism at its origin.

No more amnesties, just the certainty of the law.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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May 04, 2006

Italy is 79th in the information freedom ranking

In 2005, Italy was at the 79th position in the ranking for freedom of the press on equal merit with Botswana according to the latest study of the non governmental agency called Freedom House. This is a heavy load inherited from the previous government. It’s a humiliation for Italian citizens. It’s an intolerable situation to be faced up to urgently. In Italy journalists of some TV networks and many newspapers are only employees serving the economic interests of the editor.In Italy an entrepreneur has used and still uses his power over the media for personal and political ends.

This reality is under the eyes of the whole world. As far as information is concerned, we are considered to be half way between a banana republic and a dictatorship of light opera. This reality must be changed straight away. The first right of a citizen is to be informed correctly so as to be able to make judgements and choices. This right today is denied. Fausto Bertinotti has used the term “get thinner” referred to Mediaset. I believe that the correct term should be free market. We must exit from the duopoly Rai-Mediaset and allow the presence of other participants. The current way of assigning radio TV frequencies must be redone. The management of advertising must be equitably distributed so that we can come out of a duopoly situation in this case as well.

These conditions are necessary to have free information once more in our country. As well as that, we should hope for a change in many of the so-called journalists. They are great only in their pocket books and in media exposure. We need free spirits and true professionals.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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May 02, 2006

Franca Rame, President of the Republic

Franca Rame, President of the Republic. Italia dei Valori will put forward the name of a woman and will vote for a woman to be in the highest position in the State. A person who has always been outside of political games. Having her as a candidate is a signal of change in a country in which women have always been discriminated against in politics. It’s easy to see this by looking at how few there are in Parliament. In Italy no woman and no person outside of politics has ever been either President of the Council or President of the Republic. Franca Rame has both these characteristics and combines them with a social commitment and intellectual honesty.

Politics must change, starting from the people representing politics. We need to start with a greater presence of women in the Lower House, in the Upper House and in the administrative positions.

Furthermore, for a real renewal, we need to gradually substitute professional politicians who have been in the parliamentary corridors for decades, with citizens who are “on loan to the political scene”. We need people coming from the real world who know the real problems. On this point in particular, I will present a draft Law to limit each candidate being elected for no more than 2 terms.

Franca Rame, President of the Republic, a dream that will change Italy.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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Thank you Ciampi!

The presidents of the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament have now been selected. Having Andreotti as a candidate proved counterproductive for those, including the Lega, who were supporting him.
Now we are waiting for the official appointment of the President of the Council, Romano Prodi, and then the election by the Upper and Lower Houses together, of the President of the Republic. After that we’ll have to work really hard to put this country right, as soon as we can.

The term of office as President of the Republic, served by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi will be remembered for a long time, for the fact that he has totally identified himself with our constitutional values and for his ability to operate always in the spirit of “super partes” at the service of Italy.
If he wanted to be a candidate for another term he would most certainly have the vote of Italia dei Valori. But I don’t think he will do this.
Italy has had Presidents of the Republic on the whole superior to the Presidents of the Council, because the former, once they have taken up office, have tried to represent the interests of the nation rather than election interests.
I hope that it will be like that for the next President of the Republic.
With regard to the election of the President of the Republic, I would anyway like to repeat that no candidate who is “prescritto”, being tried in the justice system, or who has been convicted, will have the vote of Italia dei Valori.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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