Free Trieste

*Municipal resolution mentioned in the following text.

FOR ITALIAN JUSTICE, THE FACT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A CRIME

“…it is impossible not taking into account the disconcert arising when reading the terms and conditions applied to deliver public money, which seems a flood despite the city’s balance being more like a draught, and without possibly discovering who fathered said decisions.

The decision’s collegiality, the receivers’ diversity, bureaucratic labyrinths that precede the presentation, to the Giunta (city council) of a text without authors and without a preliminary investigation worth this name, all of this, from one side rises the above mentioned disconcert, but, on the other side, even after taking into account the scarcity of the amounts deliverer – both to each subject and the overall sum – requires to interrupt the research of objective conditions and, especially, the subjective condition of the alleged crime (Article No. 323 of the Italian Code of Criminal Law, abuse of office)…”.

This case deserves to be  taken into account, because it does capture very well an aspect of the misgovernment of Trieste that Italian authorities commit on a regular bases. This case is useful for whoever wants to understand how do normality work the authorities of the corrupted system the Bel Paese.

This cannot but cause dismay (at least, to someone who believes in justice…) what the Italian Judge of the preliminary investigations of the Court of Trieste has ruled: take no further action on  the complaint denouncing the scandalous use of municipal founding to associations, a decision that follows a request of the very Prosecution office of the Republic.

The complaint, presented by environmentalist movement Greenaction Transnational, captured and defined very well a “patronage system” that takes care of deliver public money disregarding all norms on transparency.

The core of this system was an agreement between municipal councillors, who could use the funds of the City at their own discretion, only to award the money to subjects they personally liked, especially to different associations. Among the beneficiaries of this such “donations” there is the “Club delle Libertà” an organization strictly and directly related  to political party “Il Popolo delle Libertà”, which therefore is not even eligible for public founding.

This is how, in one year, the surprising amount of EUR 190.000, like a river, was diverted to similar associations, damaging the budget of the city and, even, regardless to the serious economic crisis, only to grant the members of the monolithic block of local misgovernment with the money they need to gain electoral support.

An “equal” exchange, perfectly suit with the rules of the Italian, party-ruled establishment. And who was excluded? Anyone without a political “godfather”.

Among the outcast, Greenaction itself, which had presented to the City council a request of sponsorship to film a video about the problems connected with the LNG terminal project in the Gulf of Trieste, still, public money was denied, without a justification.

“…for taking part, either as part of a concourse of will or action, with the other members of the City Council of the city of Trieste, in the approval of the municipal resolution dated December 20th, 2010 the payment of certain amounts of money to various organizations and associations, without any kind of justification, causing the unfair in totale difetto di motivazione, causing an unfair profit to the beneficiaries (not a line of text is spent as for the criteria adopted to chose or pick the beneficiaries; criteria whose respect is an obligation under Article No. 12 l. 241/90); 

as for the respect of their activities when it comes to the municipal regulation; as for the reasons to determinate the amount of money (it ranges from EUR 500 to 8.000 Euro, once again, without a word as for the criteria adopted to chose an import, criteria whose respect is an obligation under Article No.12 l. 241/90);

as for the reasons for excluding from this contribution other requirers. On the contrary, the resolution states that these are “sums made available for the city councillors (because only the organizations that had received the approval of a municipal councillor were blessed with the contribution), in clear breach of the law.

Organizations excluded without reason, if not the one, illegitimate, to not have the approval of some municipal councilor, and without a written reason: (follows a list of 14 organizations).

Also, municipal regulation is violated since it envisions that the money is delivered “to support cultural event, sport or entertainment” or to offer “economical support to the activity of cultural associations or sport clubs, both characteristics lacking at least for TRIESTE Oggi, Euro 2.000, Euro 4.500; for HORIZON Communications srl Euro 4.000, for Radioattività Euro 1.000, for Radio Punto Zero Euro 2.000.“

“…on the other side, considering the high number of both beneficiaries and excluded subjects, and their diversity (it is impossible to find a common ground), making it hard to proof the crime, meaning the consciousness to be acting in favor of somebody contra legem;

because, even if it appears that there is a mechanism to deliver money rather “unclearly” (no graded lists, no motivations), it is as much true the fact that this distribution happened like a rain and, it seems, following different inputs from various city councillors, showing a rather original vision of public affairs, characterized with unsuitable personalism, meaning the incapability to distinguish the institutional role (majors, as such, are obviously the heads of a City Council, not members of a party or political wing) and the political/personal role is well summarizes in the sentence “is I had known that among the requests there was one to finance an anti-regassification plant video, I would have certainly not given money for that, since I am in favor of the LNG terminal”;

In conclusion: after reading the jurisprudence concerning Article 323 of the Code of Criminal Law, the Public Prosecutors considers it very improbable that we might get to a judgment of conviction, lacking an evidence of any kind (friendship, politics, family bond) among hte major and the many beneficiaries of the money…”.

This system of corruption and its deep roots in the municipal administration of Trieste are very useful to the circles of a rotten system of power that control it: pseudo-Masonic Mafias, once again, protected by Italian judiciary authorities. A system which, unpunished, is active since years, and controls also the awarding of public money to the associations, possibly diverted at least one million Euro illegally since before the Euro entered into circulation.