A top former manager at the
infrastructure ministry was arrested in a major public-works
graft probe Monday that reportedly involved work on the Florence
stretch of the TAV high-speed rail line as well as preparations
for the Milan Expo 2015 world's fair plus motorways, a Sardinian
port and metro works in Rome and Milan.
Ettore Incalza, a public-works honcho for seven governments
who now works as a consultant, was among four arrested including
businessmen Stefano Perotti and Francesco Cavallo, as well as
Incalza's aide Sandro Pacella, in a probe that saw more than 50
people including politicians placed under investigation for
suspected kickbacks that inflated costs by as much as 40%.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi's son
was allegedly hired by an engineer, Giorgio Mor, at Perotti's
behest in what a judge said was a favour that might have been
reciprocated in some way.
The indirect hiring of Luca Lupi by Perotti may have been
part of "an illicit quid pro quo" by the minister, the judge
said in papers on the case.
The worries of the businessman who actually did the hiring,
Mor, and of Perotti himself, that it could be seen as
"inopportune" supported this idea, the judge said.
The suspects arrested in the mushrooming probe gave Lupi a
tailor-made suit and his son a Rolex watch as a graduation
present, judicial sources added.
Cavallo, one of the four arrested men said to have a
"close relationship" with Lupi, arranged for a tailor, Vincenzo
Barbato, to cut the suit to measure for the minister, according
to telephone calls cited in the order written by a Florence
judge for the arrest of the four.
Also mentioned in the warrant was a gift by Perotti and his
wife of a Rolex watch worth 10,350 euros to Luca Lupi that was
allegedly delivered by Cavallo.
Minister Lupi strongly denied Monday asking favours for his
son, saying the young man was so bright he didn't need paternal
string-pulling to get a job.
"Luca graduated from the Milan Polytechnic in December 2013
... after a period of six months at the American SOM studio of
San Francisco, where he was sent by his professor for his
thesis," Lupi explained.
"As soon as he graduated he received a job offer from the
same studio at its New York office".
The minister added that "while waiting for his visa to work
in the United States... he worked at the Mor studio in Genoa
with a self-employed contract for 1300 euros net a month".
"In January 2015 the studio SOM offer was reiterated, his
visa finally arrived and since early March my son is working in
New York".
"I repeat I have never asked anything from anyone for his
work, and it seems to me that, given his curriculum, he doesn't
need it.
"I never asked engineer Perotti or anyone to give my son a
job," he said.
"It's not my habit and it would be behaviour I would regard
as profoundly wrong," said Lupi.
Lupi vowed that the probe would receive the government's
"utmost cooperation".
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) demanded that
Lupi quit, saying Premier Matteo Renzi has "scrapped legality".
Alessandro Di Battista, an MP for M5S, said Lupi should
resign following "yet another corruption scandal."
Speaking at a news conference in the upper house, Di
Battista said "Renzi has scrapped legality in this country".
"Lupi must resign, it's a government of hooligans", Di
Battista said.
"The fact that Lupi is defending Incalza proves that he is
guilty," Di Battista claimed.
In other news out of the probe, former Expo world's fair
manager Antonio Acerbo was said to be under investigation along
with Perotti and Italy Pavilion former facility manager Andrea
Castellotti for suspected bid-rigging at the Italy Pavilion.
Inspectors believe Acerbo steered a 25-million-euro
contract to build the so-called Italy Palace (Palazzo Italia) at
Expo to a construction consortium called Italiana Costruzioni.
Acerbo last month copped a plea of three years in prison
over graft in Expo constrcution work.
It was also claimed that Deputy Infrastructure Minister
Riccardo Nencini allegedly got his post thanks to Incalza.
Wiretaps contained in a preliminary arrest warrant revealed
what prosecutors said was the "extremely tight connection"
between the suspect and Lupi.
"After you sponsored Nencini....we made him deputy
minister," Lupi tells Incalza in the tapped conversation from
February 28 last year.
Perotti, meanwhile, allegedly boasted of having "a
mountain of works" worth 25 billion euros over 15 years
including Rome and Milan metro expansions.
In July 2014 he referred to the long list of major
contracts in which he was involved, investigators said.
At the end of January, Perotti was "engaged in directing
work" on at least 10 major projects, investigators added.
Those allegedly included the new Metro C line in Rome, two
sections of the Milan subway system and high-speed rail projects
in Reggio Calabria, officials said.
The probe uncovered an "articulated corruption network",
judicial sources said.
Construction of a new port at Olbia on the island of
Sardinia is also being looked into by investigators.
Investigators believe bribes were paid to officials to
influence the awarding of public contracts and other potential
charges relate to obstructing proper public administration.
Incalza, investigators said, was "the boss of the business"
for over 30 years.
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