(ANSA) - Milan, September 19 - A Milan appeals court on
Wednesday raised from six years to seven and a half a sentence
for former Lombardy governor Roberto Formigoni in a graft case
involving the Maugeri health institute.
Prosecutors had in fact requested a seven-and-a-half-year
term for Formigoni, a centrist NCD party member.
The ex-governor was found guilty of corruption linked to the
Pavia-based Maugeri health-care foundation specialized in
rehabilitation.
The Senator was found guilty of favoring the Maugeri
foundation when he was governor from 1995 to 2012 in exchange
for luxury holidays abroad, the exclusive use of three yachts,
large sums of cash paid on a regular basis, luxury dinners and
the purchase of the Sardinian villa.
Prosecutors said that the Maugeri foundation paid a reported
61 million euros from 1997 until 2011 to businessman Pierangelo
Dacco', a friend of Formigoni's, and former executive regional
councilor Antonio Simone, for benefits to Formigoni.
State attorneys also said, in another part of the
investigation, that the San Raffaele hospital in Milan paid an
additional nine million between 2005 and 2006 to Dacco' and
Simone to grant the governor benefits worth a total of eight
million euros.
The governor, in exchange, granted illicit healthcare
reimbursements worth 200 million euros for the Maugeri fund,
according to investigators.
Formigoni has consistently denied wrongdoing and says he paid
for holidays on a boat provided by Dacco'.
The entire Lombardy regional administration resigned after a
wave of scandals at the end of 2012.
Formigoni gets 7 1/2 yrs in Maugeri appeal
Sentence lengthened from six years