Good day and a happy New Year to you all. This is the second episode recorded on Christmas Eve and is therefore based on the situation as it stands. I don’t know what will be going on today, namely 3rd January, although I have a pretty good idea, but this is nevertheless a good opportunity to look back a bit, as we did last week, so perhaps it’s a good time to do a bit of a summary of the scandals that are hovering like a toxic cloud around the Berlusconi Government, a government that has been battered by scandal in the past year and has lost a number of its members who have been compromised by those scandals, except of course for the Prime Minister himself who is the most compromised of all but continues to cling doggedly to his post, so let’s see precisely who is governing us, we hope for not much longer.
The accused Premier of an accused government
As regards Berlusconi, we all know that within days the Constitutional Court is due to issue its ruling on the constitutionality or otherwise of the legitimate impediment legislation, and we hope that this time it goes our way. Should the decision go Berlusconi’s way, he could then continue to wipe his arse until October on the trials that are underway in Milan, in which he stands accused in the Mills trial of bribing a judge and in the Mediaset trial for financial fraud, undue appropriation and false accounting, offences that have all but been cancelled by statute barring, as well as the Media Trade trial for the same offences.
Then there is also an inquiry underway in Rome concerning the pressure, violence and threats made against the State at the time, namely two years ago against Agcom and RAI in order to get the Anno Zero programme shut down, as well as investigations that don’t involve him directly, like the Rubi scandal. Furthermore, we are also still awaiting the Preliminary Investigations Magistrate’s decision with regard to Berlusconi’s request to archive the case concerning his role as the carrier of the secret recording of Fassino’s telephone conversation with Consorte, which the company that made the recording sent to Silvio Berlusconi via his brother Paolo and which was subsequently divulged in one of Il Giornale’s reports by Gianluigi Nuzzi, published in January 2006 slap bang in the middle of the election campaign.
That’s it for Berlusconi, however, should the Constitutional Court instead rule that legitimate impediment legislation is unconstitutional, then Berlusconi would immediately find himself back in Court having to defend himself. Should Berlusconi be kicked out as Prime Minister, then he would have to defend himself in Court in any event, irrespective of whether the legitimate impediment legislation is ruled to be constitutional or unconstitutional, because he would lose the right the moment he is no longer a member of the government.
Then there’s Minister Fitto, who had been remanded for trial for corruption and other extremely serious crimes in Bari: there are two cases pending in which he faces charges of corruption, conspiracy to commit a crime, fraud and various other charges.
Then there’s also Minister Bossi, who already has a final conviction for illegal funding in the Enimont case and another for pushing the Party of Love and urging his activists to go house to house and flush out members of Alleanza Nazionale, whom he called fascists at the time, and he has only been saved from prosecution in the Green-shirts case thanks to the immunity vote by Minister Maroni, who was himself convicted for resisting arrest and attacking a public official.
Minister Calderoli himself was originally facing charges of involvement in the matter of certain funds received by Giampiero Fiorani, a case that was subsequently archived, but he is currently facing an individual no-confidence motion in Parliament, which we spoke about last week, for having surreptitiously slipped a clause that decriminalised the establishment of a paramilitary organisation for political purposes into the a new military regulation code in the Omnibus Decree.
Minister Matteoli is currently facing prosecution in Livorno on charges of aiding and abetting a former Prefect, whom he is accused of having warned that he (the prefect) was under investigation and that his telephone conversations were being monitored in terms of an investigation into building regulation offences on the Island of Elba.
Then we mustn’t forget Minister Bondi, who is also facing an individual no-confidence motion due to a number of scandals involving him, including allegations that he placed his companion’s husband, the Hon. Rapetti (that’s her surname, not his) as a consultant for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, that he organised a job for Rapetti’s son in a film testing centre within the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, in a body that is funded by the Ministry itself, that he granted funding for the Theatre and even the town band of Novi Ligure, his companion’s town of birth, and Fivizzano, Bondi’s own town of birth, that he even went so far as to create fake special film awards in Venice just in order to satisfy the aspirations of film producers, actresses and, in particular, the aspirations of Michelle Bonev, a Bulgarian woman who is said to be very close to not only the Bulgarian Premier, but also our very own Prime Minister, and that his total incompetence is proven by the building collapses in Pompeii and the overall management of the Country’s cultural assets.
Just in passing, Bondi also appointed Vittorio Sgarbi as Superintendent of Venice, a man who was subsequently finally convicted for fraud committed against the very same Superintendent’s Department of Venice.
What about Michela Vittoria Brambilla, who is under investigation by the Auditor General for allegedly having sorted out various friends and relatives, as well as a number of managers of her “Circoli della Libertà ” political lobbies by giving them important posts within the Ministry of Tourism and the investigations are currently focusing on whether these incredible actions of hers actually constitute fraud against the state.
As regards Mara Carfagna, we’re not going to dwell on her background. She was appointed as Minister for Equal Opportunity, then she threatened to resign because the party was in illegal hands down in Naples, or so she claimed, but then we don’t know what happened because she swallowed her words and is still appointed as Minister.
Then there are all those that have gone, including Brancher who was convicted for having accepted money from Fiorani, who was launching a take-over bid for the Antonveneta bank, and was (Brancher) sentenced this summer to serve two years behind bars.
Then there was Bertolaso who, facing accusations of corruption in the “clique” case and of involvement in the refuse scandal in Naples, left his post and made way for Prefect Franco Gabrielli, who promptly made his mark for his admirable management of the so-called snow emergency, that apparently unforeseeable event that occurred on Christmas Eve when it snowed in Italy, catching the Civil Defence Department entirely unawares as usual, after all, who would have thought that it would snow on Christmas Eve? As it happens, Gabrielli stated that the Italian people were to blame, not the institution of course. Gabrielli had already distinguished himself as Prefect of L’Aquila for having brilliantly seized the wheelbarrows that the citizens were using to remove the rubble that the Civil Defence Department had failed to remove from the old town centre since the earthquake two years earlier. Subversive wheelbarrows apparently!
Tremonti has only one close collaborator, a certain individual from Milan who is under investigation in terms of a very recent inquiry. Then there’s Minister Rotondi, whom Carlo Tecce discussed in an article in Il Fatto Quotidiano, in which he told of the Minister for Programme Implementation’s special attention for his friends and for Avellino, his birthplace, even though he was elected in the Milan constituency. So the newly appointed Secretary of the Christian Democrat Party and Programme Implementation Minister hasn’t forgotten his old school buddies, family friends and the faithful party leaders and members, his party. For a useless Ministry that costs us 8 million Euro per year and has an absenteeism rate of 52%, as revealed by the data provided by his colleague Brunetta, Rotondi has surrounded himself with 17 people, many of them from Avellino just like him, to provide him with highly professional consultancy services, apparently experts in a variety of fields and study researchers costing some 170-thousand Euro in 2010 alone. The person he approached for legal advice is none other than an Augusto Pistolesi, an old school buddy, while for advice on government policy regarding European integration, a vital matter, he chose Rosella Caputo, wife of Raffaele, who is a dentist and also just happens to be a former school buddy, at 18-thousand Euro, what luck it is to have been in the same class as Rotondi at school!
The concealed pardon
A dual contract worth 12-thousand Euro granted to a woman by the name of Roberta Piano, daughter of Avellino Town Secretary, who was charged with undertaking a study of the main government policies adopted by the executive as regards relations with the European Countries, you can just imagine what an earth-shattering study that must have turned out to be! Former business manager of Avellino Calcio, Antonio Eder Pirrello, was paid 7-thousand Euro to examine the provisions adopted and the results achieved via these actions? Enough said! Not an easy examination judging by the title. “Mbei coglioni” as they say in Rome, what a vital commission for such a high-brow concept! The Christian Democratic Party may be a small party, but they hold a majority in the Ministry for Programme Implementation. You remember Fausto Sacco, former Christian Democrat self-government co-ordinator for Avellino? Helmet on and interviewed on his scooter, he was organising the Balena Bianca journalists award, Rotondi’s “Balena” naturally, an event designed to focus attention on editorial journalists running the National newspapers and awarded by an eminent jury panel. Sacco made do with the 6-thousand Euro he was paid for monitoring government policy, who knows what the difference is between him and the other appointees, but he monitors government activity, so he must have a lot of free time on his hands!
Then let’s not forget about Sacco’s superior, former Christian Democrat Secretary for self-government, Gianfranco Picariello, paid 10-thousand Euro for examining tourism-related problems and for re-launching development. The plans are in place, as is the government, more or less, concludes Carlo Tecce, because this gentleman is still in his Ministerial post and no one has yet called him to account.
Then there are the Undersecretaries, although for obvious reasons we can only look at some of the main ones. Minister Scotti, who was one of the players of the First Republic, faced some legal woes that were subsequently sorted out, as well as an unresolved problem with the Auditor General’s Department regarding certain slush funds within the secret services. He is a former Minister of Internal Affairs. Then there’s Gianni Letta who, to all intents and purposes, is still under investigation in Lago Negro in terms of an investigation instituted at the time by Woodcock into tenders for canteen and catering services at the foreign refugee camps, where there was talk of favouritism being shown towards companies that were close to “Comunione e Liberazione”, to the people’s movement and to the Steering Committee.
Then there’s Caliendo, accused of being a member of the P3, together with Dell’Utri and Verdini who, of course, is still working as National co-ordinator of the Pdl and Caliendo is also Undersecretary for Justice, notwithstanding the fact that he stands accused of involvement in the P3, an organisation that was specifically set up to influence court decisions and, more specifically, Constitutional Court rulings at the time of its “yes” or “no” to the Alfano Bill.
Then there’s Castelli, who was convicted and ordered by the Auditor General’s Department to reimburse the State for certain inexplicable and convenient little consultancy fees paid out to his friends while he was Minister of Justice, the most famous of which was a consultancy fee paid to a fishmonger from his town of birth who was supposedly charged with investigating the construction of prisons. As a matter of fact, those famous new prisons have never been built and, just recently, the government indeed approved yet another little concealed pardon that allows detainees to serve out the last year of their prison sentence in the form of house arrest, this in a Country where the last few years of prison time are already being served in the form of house arrest under the auspices of social services. So now they will get to spend another year of their sentences at home, out of prison, meaning that someone originally sentenced to spend 4 years in jail will never see the inside of a prison if the crime was committed prior to 2006, in other words prior to the pardon that reduced his sentence by three years. 4 plus 3 equals seven, so anyone sentenced to anything up to 7 years of imprisonment will never actually see the inside of any jail.
As a result, since mid-December a few thousand prison inmates have been released in an attempt to overcome the problem of overcrowding in our prisons, a problem that was supposedly going to be sorted out by building new prisons. However, notwithstanding Castelli, Mastella and Alfano’s ongoing promises, we see no new prisons being built and, therefore, the so-called “government of security and zero-tolerance” continues to address the prison overcrowding problem by periodically releasing criminals back onto our streets!
Then there is also our old friend Cosentino who resigned from his post as Undersecretary because he was under investigation for alleged Camorra-related activities. As if that wasn’t enough, he was recently officially charged with favouring the Camorra by purposely letting the refuse emergency in Naples get totally out of hand, thus identifying him as one of the main individuals responsible for the failure to dispose of refuse in order to favour Camorra members and associated companies.
Yet this is the very same government that now demands that the average man in the street, the immigrants and the students show more respect for the law, a government that itself ignores the law yet expects others to respect it and is then surprised when everyone else breaks the law. Perhaps, sooner or later they will realise that they cannot continue to expert citizens to show more respect than that shown by the very people that make the laws.
No comments:
Post a Comment