Antonio Di Pietro - Cambiare l’Italia

2 July 2009

The abandoned Court

Notwithstanding the fact that a hundred or so constitutionalists have spoken out against the Alfano Bill, notwithstanding the extreme embarrassment of the fifteen members of the Constitutional Council due to the actions of two of their colleagues, notwithstanding the fact that the dinner in question was anything but recreational, as proven by the draft constitutional reform that appeared in the Senate offices a mere two days after the date of that dinner, notwithstanding all of this, the President of the Constitutional Court, Francesco Amirante, has done absolutely nothing at all to safeguard the independence of the institution that he represents.
I would like to remind President Amirante that amongst the members of the Court are at least two members that are definitely not independent and that his reticence in issuing a statement, should it continue for much longer, could well be interpreted as an obscure message.
All we are asking of Mr. Amirante is to do his duty as guarantor of the impartiality, independence and autonomy of the Constitutional Court.
The negligence and superficiality with which the two judges in question dismissed that dinner in May, together with their obstinacy they have displayed by refusing to recuse themselves from the voting scheduled for 6 October clearly demonstrates the extent of the bad faith that permeates whatever they do.
Mr. Mazzella’s open letter addressed to the corruptor in fact reveals a level of reverence, mixed with servility, which rings alarm bells regarding the actual independence of the members of the Constitutional Council.
I would like to remind Mr. Mazzella about that what Law students are taught during the first few months of their studies, namely that, while ordinary judges are required to recuse themselves or be officially relieved of their duties in a situation such as this, these provisions have not been made applicable to the Constitutional Court, for the simple reason that, at least prior to May this year, it was deemed to be inconceivable for any Constitutional Court judge to use his personal friendship with an individual who has a vested interest in a particular Council decision to justify his invitation for said individual to visit his home on the eve of a Council ruling that affects the individual in question. Then, to make matters worse, also present is none other than the Minister of Justice who originally drafted and tabled the “tailor-made” law in question.
We will not be moved as regards this ongoing battle over the autonomy of the Constitutional Council and the decision that the Court itself will be called on to make on 6 October regarding Law No. 128 (also known as the Alfano Bill), in terms of which Silvio Berlusconi has been the sole beneficiary to date.

	"Follow the G8 on Idvstaff on Twitter"
During the G8 summit scheduled to take place on the 8th, 9th and 10 July, I will make use of Twitter to keep you informed, in real time, on the events unfolding in L’Aquila. You can be fairly certain that, if it is left up to the Prime Minister’s 6 television networks to report on the proceedings, there will be no such thing as a truthful and complete picture of what will be going on at the summit. You will be able to view my comments by simply accessing Twitter and registering yourself and then adding account Idvstaff as one of those to be tracked. Alternatively, you can simply go to the homepage of this Blog from the 8th to the 10th July, where you will find that day’s news flashes.
Antonio Di Pietro

RESIGN V: undercover dinner

Here is the content of my address today in the Chamber regarding what I have called the “Undercover dinner”, which was attended by two Constitutional Council Judges, namely Mr. Mazzella and Mr. Napolitano, an unimpeachable corruptor thanks to the Alfano Bill, namely Silvio Berlusconi, the signatory of the Bill, namely Angelino Alfano, an undersecretary, namely Gianni Letta, and the Chairman of the Senate Constitutional Affairs Committees, namely Carlo Vizzini. Very carefully chosen dinner guests that the Minister for Parliamentary Relations, Elio Vito, would have us believe are simply close friends who discussed all sorts of things other than the Bill in question.

The Italians are waking up to the truth, dear sirs of the Government, and they will call you to account for every morsel that you “ate”.

Let Messrs. Alfano, Mazzella and Napolitano at least have the decency to resign.

THE QUESTION

Antonio Di Pietro: Mr. President, Mr. Minister of Justice – even though I have noted that he is absent -, what we would like to know from you is the reason why you attended a very exclusive and top secret dinner with the Prime Minister and two Constitutional Court Judges, namely Luigi Mazzella, also the host of the jailbird dinner, and Paolo Maria Napolitano. You, Sir, are well aware that the Prime Minister has been the subject of a number of criminal investigations, with which the Italian judges are unable to proceed precisely because you, Minister Alfano, proposed and pushed through Parliament a law that guarantees Mr. Berlusconi total impunity for the entire duration of his mandate. You of all people should understand that by attending this dinner you have undermined the credibility of the Constitutional Court, which is due to issue a ruling regarding the Alfano Bill on 6 October. In the light of this, we would like to know the following: do you realise the seriousness and the institutional impropriety of your actions? Precisely why did you organise and arrange that dinner? Do you not believe that, at this point in time when the entire issue has come out into the open, you are duty bound to resign from your post in order to restore some sense of dignity to your office and that of the Constitutional Court? (Applause from the Italia dei Valori group members).

THE RESPONSE

Elio Vito: Mister President, in the interest of propriety and the profound respect that the Government has for Parliament, I will naturally refer to the written text tabled by the Honourable Mr. Di Pietro and the other members of the Italia dei Valori group rather than to the verbal statements made just a short while ago here in the House.
The honourable members have picked up on an article published in the weekly publication “L'Espresso” and are now asking questions regarding a gathering held at the private residence of a Constitutional Court Judge, namely Judge Luigi Mazzella, the venue where, in May of this year – according to the members and the quoted press article – and I quote, «one of the most disconcerting and politically embarrassing meetings ever organised by the Berlusconi Government » was held.
The quoted article, according to what has been tabled and highlighted by the members, specifically as regards the section that deals with the supposed content of the meeting organised by the Berlusconi Government, makes frequent and generic references to expressions such as «various sources agree», «it would appear that» and to questions contained in this same text, which, upon closer examination, consists of mere conjecture and desperate claims.
As regards the content of the text – as I have already stated – one particular quote presented as fact, namely «one of the most disconcerting and politically embarrassing meetings ever organised by the Berlusconi Government» requires immediate clarification, Honourable Mr. Di Pietro, in that the Berlusconi Government, which I am proud to represent in this House, did not in fact organise any meeting whatsoever at the home of Judge Mazzella. Many weeks prior to May of this year, Prime Minister Berlusconi, together with the Undersecretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Gianni Letta, The Minister of Justice, the Honourable Angelino Alfano, Senator Carlo Vizzini and Constitutional Court Judge Paolo Maria Napolitano and their respective wives (therefore long before the dates indicated by your good selves and many weeks prior to May of this year) received invitations to attend a dinner organised at the private residence of Constitutional Court Judge Professor Luigi Mazzella. This convivial dinner, which is a natural consequence of the relationship of friendship and esteem that has existed for a long time (even acknowledged in the article quoted by the members) and that binds the master of the house and his guests, only took place during the first half of May this year.
Therefore, the gathering in question took place, Honourable Mr. Di Pietro, at least as far as it concerns the conjectures and widespread speculation, at a time well before the 26th June this year, the date on which the Judge President of the Constitutional Court set down the date of 6 October as the date of commencement of the discussions regarding the Alfano Bill and delegated Judge Gallo to chair said discussions. If I may, Mr President, given the sensitive nature of this matter, I would ask that you grant me only a few seconds longer.
As regards that which, between all of the «it would appear that” and the «it is said that», was allegedly discussed that evening, it is important to note that the aim of the gathering was certainly not to discuss anything related to the agenda of the Constitutional Court, nor any potential amendment to Heading IV of the Constitution, a matter that – as we would trust that the Honourable members are well aware – lies exclusively within the jurisdiction of Parliament, on request by the Government, as the body charged with this duty by the Constitutional Law and by the people, whereas the Constitutional Court is charged with dealing with any potential disputes. I would like to conclude by setting the Honourable members’ minds at peace by stating that the Government’s legislative initiatives concerning the justice system will be in keeping with the Programme presented to the voters at the time of the elections and that received widespread public support.

THE COUNTER-RESPONSE

Antonio Di Pietro: Mr President, the response provided is both unsatisfactory and unacceptable and I trust that you will equally grant me a few more seconds as you did just now to the Government representative.
The Constitutional Court – just to remind myself as well – is a constitutional body whose total independence is such that it should in no way be subject to any interference, neither by the Government nor by any of the other constitutional institutions. In May last year, the Alfano Bill was already there and an application had already been lodged by the judges in Milan and in Rome for the Constitutional Court to make a ruling regarding the constitutionality of the law.
Any Minister of Justice that, together with the Prime Minister who is himself under investigation on charges relating precisely to the matters on which the judges of the Constitutional Court are being called upon to make a ruling, acts as promoter of such a gathering undermines the credibility of the Constitutional Court itself. Your involvement and that of those two unscrupulous judges has violated the sacredness of the Court and today we are extremely concerned about the Constitutional Court’s impartiality and its independence, which we believe are been completely undermined. We will never know whether any decision taken on the 6th October is the result of a totally independent assessment or the result of an undercover P2-ist dinner held on that evening. (Comments from the members of the Popolo della Libertà group).
The only option remaining to us, therefore, is to reiterate the following: firstly, our total lack of confidence in this Government; secondly, the deplorable nature of this behaviour; thirdly, an official request for the resignations of not only the two Constitutional Court Judges that were willing participants in the event, or at the very least their recusal, but also your own resignation Mr. Minister of Justice because a person in your position should never have allowed, indeed never accept and never be seen to encourage any gathering involving the discussion of a law on which the judges concerned will be required to make a ruling and a law that you yourself originally proposed. We, as the Italia dei Valori party, are left no other option but to reiterate our commitment to the referendum and the validity of that referendum, to ensure that the signatures already gathered, those million signatures, will eventually lead to a referendum aimed at erasing that deceiving law that you, Minister Alfano, and you, Mr. Prime Minister have sponsored. Now you have gone as far as sullying even the Constitutional Court and the ruling that it is being called upon to make (Applause from the members of the Italia dei Valori group – Comments from the members of the Popolo della Libertà group).

1 July 2009

Gagging the Web: closing the loop

Firstly I would like to express my condolences to the families of the victims of the tragedy that occurred in Viareggio. Before making any comment regarding this event, I want to wait to see the outcome of the inquiry into the accident. Should it be confirmed that the accident was the result of structural failure, then we will have to take a close look at Trenitalia’s management of the Government Railways Company’s budget allocation for refurbishing the train tracks and performing maintenance on the rolling stock. The facts show that railway accidents are on the increase, because just eight days ago, another goods train derailed near Prato, paralysing the entire peninsula’s train links.

My article today consists of this video, which reveals yet another attack on the Internet and the citizens’ right to information. This time the obscenity is the work of the empty weapons Party and bears the signature of party deputy Carolina Lussana. While her colleague Alfano is in the process of trying to prevent the reporting of electronic surveillance information prior to the end of the associated court proceedings, the lady in question has now come up with a bright idea to close the loop, namely to erase all information, images and data relating to her own colleagues’ past run-ins with the law. To put it bluntly, we can say goodbye to being able to any longer access any important information concerning many of our public officials on Wikipedia! Whatever happened to the old-school Lega members of long ago?

Text of the address

Beware all friends of the Web, there is yet another “bullshit law” on the way. This time, the person tabling the bill was none other than the Honourable Mrs. Lussana of the Lega Nord Party. They are calling it the “Right to Oblivion”, in other words, if any parliamentarian (wonder why them, specifically?) is convicted of an offence, after a certain number of years all references to their conviction must be expunged from the Internet and the newspaper archives because, apparently, there is a legal right by which, after a number of years have passed, the convicted criminal may no longer be deemed to be a convicted criminal. It is absurd and nothing more than yet another attempt to suppress the freedom of information. People have a need to know precisely who has committed any crimes and whether or not he/she was convicted of those crimes. This is a proposal that is obviously important to someone at the “Palace” in order to hide what he has done from the eyesy of the public, so that they can perhaps make a comeback at some later stage, maybe under a different banner and in a different party, but nevertheless with the same face. We want a Palace filled with new faces, clean faces and so we demand that the information in question remain accessible to the public, particularly on the Web. Especially considering the fact that the so-called “normal” media, namely the public service or “Minzoni-olian” media, never tells you about the men of the “Palace” that are intent on taking care of their own affairs rather than the interests of this Country’s citizens. Beware, beware ye citizens of the Web.

	"RESIGN IV: THE MESSAGE OF SILENCE "
Tomorrow, Wednesday 1 July, I will be putting an official question to Parliament regarding the recent shameful dinner involving two judges of the Constitutional Council and a corruptor from the office of the Prime Minister. The State President has yet to respond to the appeal I made to him yesterday for him to demand the resignation of Constitutional Court Judges Mazzella and Napolitano. By apparently underestimating the serious implications of the dinner in question and by failing to take the necessary action, he has begun to sow the seeds of doubt as to whether the Alfano Bill could perhaps turn out to be exceptionally useful not only to Silvio Berlusconi. Not to mention the message that his silence is sending out to the colleagues of these two judges, a silence that could be interpreted as official and tacit approval by the institutions of the event that occurred. So let’s drop the mask and let’s not wait to see what happens on 6 October. Also read: RESIGN I, II, III
Antonio Di Pietro

29 June 2009

RESIGN III: not merely controversy, but facts

That dinner held in May at the home of Council Judge Mazzella is not mere controversy but a fact.
The fact that the dinner guests on that occasion included another Council Judge as well as Silvio Berlusconi, Gianni Letta, Angelino Alfano and Carlo Vizzini is also not mere controversy but a fact. The fact that on the 6th October the same Council is will be issuing its ruling regarding the constitutionality of the Alfano Bill is again not mere controversy but a fact.

I could well accept the recent call made by the State President for everyone to stop creating controversy in the light of the upcoming meeting of the G8, on condition that he makes a statement regarding one specific issue, namely that shameful dinner in May involving six institutional men displaying a serious conflict of interests.

In the interest of the readers, I am attaching a few lines from the life story of these two judges, downloaded from Wikipedia, containing certain details that I am sure you are undoubtedly and fully aware of Mr. State President, and I ask you:

"Precisely how do you think the two judges will rule on 6 October regarding the constitutionality of the Alfano Bill after the pressure that was undoubtedly applied at that dinner, notwithstanding any denials? "

I am not expecting an answer from you because then we would be risking yet another controversy, so all I’m asking for is their resignations.

From Wikipedia

Luigi Mazzella: from 14 November 2002 until 2 December 2004 he was Public Services Minister in the Berlusconi II Government. He was subsequently appointed by Parliament on 15 June 2005 as Constitutional Court Judge.

Paolo Maria Napolitano: initially called to serve as a member of Gianfranco Fini’s Cabinet in the early days of the first Berlusconi government, he was subsequently appointed as State Legal Advisor in 2003. He continued his working relationship with Deputy Prime Minister Fini and later joined the “Farnesina” (Foreign Affairs Department) as Head of the Legal Department.

The Dell'Ultri trial: irrelevant wiretaps

The third hearing has been held in Marcello Dell’Utri’s appeal case. You won’t find even a single trace of anything regarding this trial in any of the television newscasts or in the newspapers. You also won’t hear any mention of it from the mouths of the politicians. There is a firmly established code of honour amongst the political parties: they don’t accuse each other of involvement in any sort of criminal activities. Everyone takes care of their own problems without revealing those of others. It’s no use committing political suicide.

There is a third option, somewhere between revelation and silence, which the politicians have rejected because it is not part of the political chromosomes, namely the “questioning of ethics”. I refuse to reject this option.

The really serious issue is that the significance of the crimes that the Pdl Senator, formerly of Forza Italia, was found guilty of in the original trial would be sufficient to shake any other political party to its roots. Why then has this not occurred in this case? Could it perhaps be because the Government media have not seen fit to mention it at all? The Government opposition has shut up as a sort of quid pro quo for the silence as regards Bassolino, the Italia dei Valori party is under an enforced blackout and so the Web remains the only means by which the people can continue to be informed regarding the affairs of State. Wake up!.

[from pages 782-783 of the written ruling from the original trial]
The Public Prosecutors explained that certain investigations were carried out in terms

of criminal procedure 6031/94 in the General Register of Crimes,in which

Marcello Dell’Utri and Silvio Berlusconi were under investigation for their

alleged involvement in the crime of money laundering, committed in association

with Stefano Bontate, Girolamo Teresi and otherunknown individuals and conducted

in Palermo, Milan andelsewhere from 1980-1981 onwards.

The input for said investigations was originally obtained from a number

of statements, made by Filippo Alberto Rapisarda to the investigating

judgeof the Milan Court on 5 May 1987, regarding the re-investment

of significant sums of money of illegal origin and in the possession

of a number of Group companies belonging to Silvio Berlusconi.

On that occasion, the aforesaid Rapisarda told of having met

Bontate and Teresi in Piazza Castello in Milan in 1978, at which

time the latter told him that he was about to go into business with

Silvio Berlusconi in a television company, for which they

needed to raise 10 billion.

In this regard, the individual had asked him, half jokingly and half

seriously, for his opinion regarding whether or not this was a

“good” deal.

The very same Rapisarda had again broached the subject on

7 November and yet again in 12 December 1997, while giving

unsolicited statementsto the Public Prosecutors Office at the Court,

stating that between1980 and 1981, Marcello dell’Utri had asked

for and received a 20 billion Italian Lire loan from Bontate and

Teresi, to be used for the purchase of “film packages”.

During the course of the investigations, statements were also

given by police informer Pennino Gioacchino regarding certain

contacts that had taken place between Dell’Utri, Bontate and

Teresi concerning the establishment of a television broadcasting

companywithin the FININVEST Group.

Resign II: The non-eveny of the day

“Minzolini-ism” is like a metastasising cancer that is taking over this Country. It has spread from Mediaset to RAI and has even infected the press. Yesterday it affected the Tg1’s coverage (or lack of) of the Palazzo Grazioli escorts, while today the symptoms revealed themselves in “Repubblica”, in “Corriere della Sera” and in the headlines of some of the other major semi-free newspapers.
Eugenio Scalfari has sketched an interesting scenario regarding the fading of the measures adopted by Cabinet against the recession, with which I agree.
His examination of important events cannot, however, simply be limited to this one initial consideration nor, for that matter, can his newspaper conduct a quick campaign to raise the moral standards in the country by indoctrinating the population with regard to escorts, telephone calls, suspicion, little parties, as well as every last little sordid detail of the Prime Minister’s indiscretions and then proceed to turn the major news item of the day, namely yesterday’s shameful dinner between members of the Government and certain judges, into a “non-event”.
Is the fact that a Premier, an undersecretary, a Minister of Justice, two Constitutional Court Judges and a Chairman of a Constitutional Affairs Committee sit down and review the lesson the Alfano Bill not a relevant matter then?
What’s the problem, “independent” Directors Scalfari and De Bortoli will undoubtedly have said to themselves.
What does it matter if , entirely coincidentally mind you, on the 6th October the Court is scheduled to issue a ruling regarding the constitutionality of the Bill? What does it matter if all of the dinner guests just happen to have a vested interest in that very same ruling.
Why so much rage about issues pertaining to moral decay and why so much Minzolini-ism regarding constitutional affairs?
In whose interest is this bipartisan blackout?
Why has the a party like the Democratic Party, which has been grasping at straws in an attempt to renew itself, also avoided this storm, just as it did the one surrounding the gathering of signatures against the Alfano Bill?
What is worse, an escort or the suspicion of collusion in the attempt to checkmate the constitution? That’s a question that you should be asking the aforementioned Captain Courages of the media and politics.

28 June 2009

Resign, ye conniving diners

No controversies please, and we’re not looking to get into any sort of bun fight with the media over the issue of a little tête-à-tête “dinner with friends”, but the Italians have some doubts.
Precisely what were two of the members of the Constitutional Court, which will be handing down a ruling on the 6th October regarding the constitutionality of Law No. 168, better known as the Alfano Bill, doing having dinner with an unprosecutable corruptor, his henchman at the Ministry of Justice and signatory of the Alfano Bill, a man under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting the Cosa Nostra and Chairman of the Senate Constitutional Affairs Committee, and the loyal Undersecretary at the office of the Prime Minister?
Only the village idiot would be prepared to bet on the issue of whether or not they discussed that “unfortunate problem” of uncostitutionality. Especially since the “unfortunate problem” in question, should it ever materialise, would be tantamount Silvio Berlusconi once again being under the spotlight as regards the David Mills trial, where the inevitable outcome would most definitely be a ruling of “guilty of corruption”.
Judges Paolo Maria Napoletano and Luigi Mazzella are now duty bound not to appear at the hearing scheduled for 6 October and to resign from the Council. They owe this not so much to the Italians, to whom they have displayed a total lack of respect by their ridiculous explanation regarding those unsurprisingly hand picked diners, but to their colleagues, and so as not to compromise the credibility of the institution that they supposedly represent.

The Italians are not a bunch of idiots, even though the Prime Minister is doing his utmost to try and make them appear as such, and they don’t need to listen to any surveillance tapes of the conversation that took place around that table in order to understand that the main topic of conversation, between the flutes of Veuve Clicquot and the lobster, was highly likely to have been none other than the shameful Bill in question.

Therefore, the Italia dei Valori Party fully intends to begin with a relentless information campaign on this issue, with which we will continue right through to the 6th October.

26 June 2009

The mirage of GDP at -5%

It is useless for Mario Draghi and Giulio Tremonti to continue fighting amongst themselves. I am prepared to bet that, at best, by the end of this year our GDP will hit –5% because, while some structural reforms have been implemented, they have had nothing to do with the economy.

These governors of ours have ravaged our Justice system, desecrated our Constitution, deligitimised our Parliament, eliminated any remaining ethics, cleared the way for tax evasion, encouraged the idea of the "survival of the fittest" and split our society, creating the kind of social gap only worthy of a third world country. Not satisfied with that, they then proceeded to eliminate information, take over the State’s frequencies, instill a fear of anyone that is different and subsidise organised crime.

In short, they have done everything in their power, in every conceivable field, other than the economy.

They have not made any significant moves to help businesses to limit retrenchments, or to help the unemployed and low-income families at least until the end of 2009, or to assist large families to get by, or to reduce taxes and the amounts of the advance payments on the next financial year’s tax liability, or for that matter made VAT payable on receipts rather than on total invoicing.

Is this Government even aware that the banks are sitting with around 50% of their business clients potentially facing insolvency? And are they even aware that anyone working with the Public Administration is destined to go under because they only get paid after six months?

All I can say to these people is: Come back down to earth, come down out of your ivory castles, like Palazzo Grazioli and your many Villa Certosas in which you enclose yourselves to enjoy your parties, and take a walk down in the streets, amongst the people, so that you can lay your fingers on this Country’s pulse.