Why Marcello Minenna was arrested
The investigation that led to the arrest of Marcello Minenna, former director of the Customs Agency, and Gianluca Pini, former Lega MP, started from a seizure of 28 kilos of cocaine in January 2020. All the details
Judicial storm for the masks on the former director of the Customs and Monopolies Agency, Marcello Minenna.
A "pactum sceleris" between Marcello Mienna and Gianluca Pini : this is what the prosecutors of Forlì hypothesize, who formulated the request for house arrest of the current environmental councilor of the Calabria Region as well as former number 1 of the Customs Agency, and of the former Northern League MP, out of office since the 2018 elections.
PINI'S PROMISES IN MINENNA
According to the prosecutors, Pini had promised Minenna to "accredit him within the League so that he would be considered a man of that party and promised him confirmation of his appointment as Dg of the Customs Agency following the change of government, which he effectively obtained ”.
THE PACTUM SCELERIS ON MASKS
Minenna, the prosecutors continue, "accepted the promises in exchange for the enslavement of his public function". In particular "to Pini's requests on the occasion of the importation of goods" including the masks at the center of the investigation.
THE ORIGINS OF THE INVESTIGATION
However, the investigation dates back to well before the Covid pandemic, having started with a seizure of 28 kilos of cocaine in January 2020. The investigations have in fact discovered that behind the drugs seized on a truck from Belgium was an entrepreneur from Forlì with previous years, who works in the road haulage sector.
From the wiretaps, the Forlì prosecutor's office discovered that he had a consolidated relationship with the former MP Pini. The prosecutor of Forlì accuses the two of a real system, with exchanges of favours. The entrepreneur from Forlì, allegedly involved in international drug trafficking, invested the money in apparently lawful activities.
THE RAMIFICATIONS IN VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS
Pini, according to the Forlì prosecutor's office, had created links in various institutions: the precautionary measures also concerned officials of the USL Romagna, belonging to the police force and an official of the prefecture of Ravenna.
THE MALAFFAIR IN THE PANDEMIC
Also at the center of the investigation is a maxi contract with the Ausl Romagna for the supply of masks. According to the accusatory hypothesis, Pini would have obtained a millionaire contract from the Usl Romagna company for the supply of masks, despite the fact that there was no specific corporate attitude, thus also making money on the 2020 pandemic.
DRUG TRAFFICKING AND THE ALBANIAN UNDERGROUND
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office "it was possible to uncover two real systems of illicit enrichment belonging respectively to the economic universes attributable in particular to an entrepreneur from Forlì and to the former parliamentarian united, as well as by solid and trusted private relationships, by mutual financial interests" .
The two would have "reciprocally placed at the disposal of each other their own peculiar capacities for illicit interference in the contexts within which they moved". In particular, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, “the entrepreneur from Forlì took advantage of important criminal connections linked to the Albanian underworld and drug trafficking to procure money to reinvest in formally lawful activities or to purchase real estate. The full involvement of this subject in an international drug trafficking activity operated in collaboration with an armed criminal group of Albanian origin will clearly emerge.
WHO IS MARCELLO MINENNA
Minenna is 52 years old and comes from Bari. He is a contract professor of Theories and Policies for Economic Development at La Sapienza University and of Financial Econometrics and Empirical Finance at the San Raffaele Telematic University.
For years he has been a columnist for the Confindustria newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore , which publishes his analyzes on the front page, usually at the weekend.
Minenna took over in Calabria as councilor for the outgoing Mauro Dolce, also a technician, who however had the powers to Infrastructure and Public Works, sectors that President Occhiuto currently manages directly. In the past Minenna was also technical assessor for the Budget, Assets, Participates, Social Policies and Spending review of Roma Capitale.
WHO IS GIANLUCA PINI
Gianluca Pini is 50 years old and for over a decade, from 1999 to 2015, he was the national secretary of Romagna which has always been distinct from Emilia in the Northern League organization. He was in parliament for three legislatures, from 2006 to 2018, elected in Romagna with the League.
His star was dimmed when, at the 2017 congress, he supported the autonomist candidate Gianni Fava against Matteo Salvini. In the 2018 elections, he decided not to reapply to go back to dedicating himself full-time to his entrepreneurial activities.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-marcello-minenna-e-stato-arrestato/ on Thu, 22 Jun 2023 14:25:03 +0000.