A Milan judge on Thursday
accepted plea bargains between the prosecution and six
defendants in the case of a big bid-rigging ring related to
contracts for Milan Expo 2015.
When news of the investigation that led to Thursday's
convictions broke in May it caused a huge scandal, with calls
from some quarters for Expo, which runs from May to October next
year, to be called off.
Central government beefed up anti-graft measures following
the probe and national anti-corruption czar Raffaele Cantone was
given new powers to oversee Expo.
Among the defendants whose plea bargains were accepted was
former Expo procurement and planning manager Angelo Paris, who
was handed a prison sentence of two years, six months and 20
days and ordered to pay the World Fair 100,000 euros in damages.
The judge agreed to a settlement for businessman Enrico
Maltauro to receive a two year, 10 month sentence.
The judge also accepted settlements regarding number of
former politicians.
Gianstefano Frigerio, a former figure for the once-dominant
but now defunct Christian Democracy party, got three years, four
months; Primo Greganti, a ex-member of the Italian Communist
Party, got three years; Luigi Grillo, a former Senator for
Silvio Berlusconi's now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party,
got two years, eight months; Sergio Catozzo, a former Ligurian
political for the centrist UDC, was handed three years two
months.
The plea bargains did not regard the case of Antonio
Acerbo, the Expo commissioner in charge of the Waterways project
who was put under investigation in September for alleged
corruption and involvement in bid rigging.
Prosecutors said Acerbo steered a 100-million-euro contract
for the project to a consortium led by Maltauro in exchange for
consultancy contracts for his son.
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