Molfetta (Bari), contracts in exchange for votes: the mayor of the civic coalition Tommaso Minervini arrested

The mayor of Molfetta (Bari), Tommaso Minervini , has been placed under house arrest as part of the Guardia di Finanza investigation into alleged irregularities in the awarding of contracts in exchange for votes . The mayor had already appeared for preliminary questioning before the investigating judge on May 2 after the request for a restrictive precautionary measure by the Public Prosecutor's Office because he was being investigated for alleged favors to entrepreneurs in exchange for electoral support .

The management of tenders for important public works is under investigation , the mayor defended himself from the accusations. House arrest was also imposed on a municipal manager. Interdictory measures were imposed on two other officials. The crimes alleged by the public prosecutors are, to varying degrees, corruption, bid-rigging, embezzlement and forgery. The precautionary order also ordered house arrest for the municipal manager Lidia De Leonardis, 58, from Bari.

Molfetta, the details of the investigation

The investigating judge of Trani, Marina Chiddo, has ordered a one-year ban for municipal managers Alessandro Binetti and Domenico Satalino, a ban on residence in Molfetta for the former lieutenant of the Guardia di Finanza, Michele Pizzo, and a one-year ban on contracting with the Public Administration for the port entrepreneur Vito Leonardo Totorizzo. With regard to Minervini, who leads a civic coalition that brings together the center-right and the center-left , the investigating judge has recognized almost all the charges brought by the Prosecutor's Office . The charges, contested under various titles, are corruption, bid-rigging, embezzlement and forgery. Everything revolves around the construction of the new commercial port of Molfetta, already at the center of a corruption investigation that has been under trial for some time. The prosecution believes that Minervini promised the port entrepreneur Totorizzo from Bari the thirty-year management of the new port docks in exchange for electoral support.