An email to a single recipient can get lost. To two recipients, as well. But when the alert arrives simultaneously to seven people, it is hard to argue that no one was aware of it. Antonio Fabbrocini, Roberto R., Roberto U., Alessandra B., Marco L., Giuseppe T. and Simona P.: these are the names that appear in the email chain with which Francesca Iacono, lawyer and official of Invitalia’s central procurement services, raises the issue of controls on Chinese supplies. Seven recipients, among managers and officials involved in the administrative circuit of the Covid contracts. Seven possible sentinels who were informed that something was wrong in that contract. Names that emerge in the documents of the Rome Prosecutor’s investigation as a point of critical reflection, by the Guardia di Finanza, regarding the chaotic internal dynamics of the commissioner structure, but who cannot, however, be recipients of retrospective accusations for responsibilities that concerned much higher levels than theirs. And which, although extinguished at the criminal level, remain intact politically and operationally.
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Anti-Covid masks, the mystery of untraceable or invented manufacturers
A name on the box of protective devices, another (different) in the public prosecutor’s seizure decree,…
So why talk about it today? Because one of the defense lines of Domenico Arcuri and the other suspects (later dismissed) has always relied on the unpredictable nature of the emergency: thousands of communications, compressed times, decisions made under the pressure of the pandemic and public opinion. The emails, the directly involved swear, could have been missed. And with them also the requests to verify the goods to be purchased. But that email from April 13, 2020, is proof that such a justification is weak and inconsistent. With the order letter related to Luokai Trade, Iacono first summarizes an operation of 600 million masks, at the price of 0.49 euros each, for a total of 294 million, then turns on the red light. “Furthermore,” reads the official’s electronic letter sent to Fabbrocini and the other six recipients, “regarding the requirements that Chinese companies must meet starting from April 1, 2020, for the export of medical devices, as reported by Ice (Institute for Foreign Trade, ed.), I ask you if we are also verifying these requirements before proceeding with the formalization of the agreement.” This is not a rhetorical question, it is not an ordinary administrative report, but the turning point that could have changed the outcome of the most colossal public money fraud in the recent history of our country.
The Chinese MofCom regulation, in particular, requires that the manufacturer be listed in Beijing’s white-list, that the shipper certifies the conformity of the goods, and that the devices be accompanied by the manufacturer’s registration certificate. Iacono received the warning from Ice and forwarded it to Rup Fabbrocini (investigated and dismissed) and the others. The communication, therefore, does not remain confined to a correspondence between two: it circulates within a broad audience of the commissioner machine. But without success, as we will see. When the Guardia di Finanza asks her what happened to that alert, the answer is simple and disarming at the same time: “Regarding my report on the MofCom regulation, I point out that I have had no feedback from Rup Antonio Fabbrocini. I am not able to tell you,” replies Iacono, “if any checks were carried out following that communication.” And again: “I cannot tell you who took care of the supplier checks for the contracts in question. I specify,” continues the Invitalia official, “that, following those contracts, we prepared a self-declaration form that was sent to suppliers, together with other forms, for the relevant signature.”
Covid, the ghost intermediary: the last shadow on the Conte government
The intermediary exists. But is not seen. Has no name, no reference company, no bank of …
In short, in the initial phase of the race for masks, it is the Chinese suppliers themselves who swear they possess the necessary requirements. A passage far from neutral for the investigation, because those attestations enter a procedure built to transform in a few hours offers of hundreds of millions of pieces into order letters, as Libero has already reported in recent days. An emergency assembly line entirely based on the (misplaced) good faith of Chinese manufacturers who were able to enrich themselves thanks to a distracted and gullible commissioner structure. When you say luck.
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