The city of Rome has been
improperly handing out contracts to run its animal shelters
without tender since 2001, ANAC anti-corruption authority said
Tuesday.
The authority said the city "systematically and
improperly" assigned the contracts directly to specific animal
rights NGOs, in violation of competitiveness rules.
The probe was sparked when the Association of Porta
Portese Dog Shelter Volunteers (AVCPP) reported that in July
2014, a business consortium with no experience in animal care
bid on one of the city dog shelter contracts.
The consortium was headed by the June 29 Cooperative,
whose founder Salvatore Buzzi is on trial on charges of being
one of the key figures in a Rome-based crime ring made up of
gangsters, businessmen, and politicians that muscled in on
lucrative city contracts.
Prosecution documents in the so-called Rome Mafia case
contain a wiretap in which Buzzi boasted over the phone that he
"bought (Gaetano) Altamura" - the former chief of the city
environmental protection department with authority over the
city's animal shelters.
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