Caltagirone Bellavista acquitted on port (3)

(ANSA) - Turin, March 13 - Building contractor Francesco Caltagirone Bellavista was acquitted on appeal Monday on fraud charges in a construction project at the port of Imperia in northwestern Italy after the Turin appeals court agreed with a lower court there was "a lack of evidence".
    Caltagirone Bellavista, owner of the company Acquamare which was responsible for the construction of Imperia's new port, gave the thumbs up sign after the sentence was read out.
    Prosecutors said they would appeal to Italy's third and last tier of judgment, the supreme Court of Casstion.
    Prosecutors had asked for an eight-year sentence for Caltagirone Bellavista, who was accused of fraud and abuse of office in construction of the tourist port.
    The businessman said outside court that he was relieved.
    According to investigators who launched the probe in 2010, a public tender for the construction contract was never held.
    The cost of construction, originally estimated at 30 million euros, was raised to 140 million euros before police seized the nearly finished works in 2010.
    Former industry minister Claudio Scajola had also been named in the initial probe but charges were later dropped.
    Scajola, and the company Aquamare, have always rejected the accusations, saying that the job involved private, not public money.
    Scajola had been forced to resign when he was indicted on charges related to a real-estate deal involving an expensive home with a view over Rome's iconic Colosseum.
    He became the butt of jokes after claiming the apartment was rented out to him without his knowledge.