Rome, new stadium investigation, superintendent Prosperetti also investigated

There is also the superintendent of Rome, Francesco Prosperetti, in the list of suspects in the affair of the corruption and bribery ring around Roma’s new stadium: six people have been reached by an order of precautionary detention in prison, while for three others house arrests have been triggered. The charge is that of criminal conspiracy aimed at committing corrupt conduct and crimes against public administration: the investigation was conducted by Carabinieri who searched studios and offices. Among those arrested are businessman Luca Parnasi, owner of the Eurnova company, the main contractor for the project for Roma’s new stadium; Luca Lanzalone, president of the Acea utility company and close to the 5 Star Movement; Adriano Palozzi, vice-president of the Lazio Regional Council, of Forza Italia; and Michele Civita, regional councillor for territorial policies, of the PD. Instead, Paolo Ferrara, group leader of the Pentastellati in Rome’s city council, is under investigation.

Among those under investigation, as mentioned, is the head of Rome’s Special Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Superintendency, Francesco Prosperetti. In February last year Prosperetti had been instrumental in the filing of the request for a bond on the grandstands of the Tor di Valle racecourse, brought forward by Margherita Eichberg when she was the superintendent. Back in June 2017, Margherita Eichberg had already spoken out against this measure by giving an interview to Corriere della Sera with harsh words (“too bad Prosperetti is a superintendent and not a business broker”) and defending her request for the constraint (“the constraint had serious reasons and had been requested by the technical-scientific committees of the ministry”). For his part, Prosperetti, in an interview with Repubblica, asserted that the bond was inapplicable because the procedure was flawed, and had ordered the filing because, with the bond, the ministry would have risked “a million-dollar lawsuit.”

According to prosecutors, the former head of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Claudio Santini, who is also under investigation, “approached the superintendent Francesco Prosperetti called to rule on the constraint” then filed on June 15 last year: the prosecutor’s office informs of a “meeting between the Superintendent and the Parnasi group on May 19, 2017” and the subsequent decision to entrust the architect Paolo Desideri “with the drafting of a project necessary to overcome the issue of the constraint.” The wiretaps would have revealed the friendship between Desideri and Prosperetti. Also according to prosecutors, the former head of the secretariat, for his “mediation on behalf of Parnasi,” would have received “as compensation for this illicit activity 53,440 euros.”

The Ministry of Cultural Heritage meanwhile has ordered an inspection into the matter, as stated in the communication issued by Chief of Cabinet Tiziana Coccoluto: “in view of what has recently emerged from the precautionary judicial measures that have affected the procedural process related to the authorization procedure for the construction of the project called ’New Roma Stadium’ we ask this Secretariat to consider the opportunity to initiate an inspection procedure aimed at verifying the linearity of the action of competence of the peripheral bodies deputed to the protection of the specific public interests governed by this administration.”

In the photo: the first draft (later modified) of the project for Roma’s new stadium.

Rome, new stadium investigation, superintendent Prosperetti also investigated

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