Corruption scandal rocks Italy as ex-Genoa port boss arrested

The president of Italy’s northwest Liguria region and the former head of Genoa port have been arrested as part of an anti-corruption probe.

The arrests, which happened on Tuesday (7 May 2024), are part of a sweeping investigation that is also targeting numerous officials for Mafia ties.

Genoa prosecutors confirmed in a statement that Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, has been arrested on corruption charges and held in custody. Signorini became CEO of the energy group IREN last year.

Liguria president Giovanni Toti, 55, a centre-right former MEP, has been placed under house arrest. Toti, who has led the region for the past nine years, is part of the Meloni-aligned Noi Moderati party.

A total of 10 people have been indicted in the probe.

Prosecutors have confirmed that Signorini’s arrest relates to his previous role as head of the Ports of Genoa Authority, which oversees one of the most important seaports in Italy.

Reuters reports that the investigation relates to the speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a company owned by the Spinelli family, which was approved in December 2021.

Aldo Spinelli is an 84-year-old businessman well-known in Italy as a former owner of professional soccer clubs Genoa and Livorno.

Other accusations relate to granting building permits and seeking to privatise a beach concession sought by Spinelli.

The ex-port boss was also promised a €300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expired, prosecutors claim, in exchange for granting Aldo Spinelli favours.

The 654-page arrest order, which includes details of the allegations, features transcripts from telephone interceptions of calls.

Prosecutors accuse Signorini of accepting €15,000 in cash from Spinelli, alongside other “sweeteners”, including overnight stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo, and luxury gifts including a Chanel bag and a Cartier gold bracelet worth €7,200, plus the use of Aldo Spinelli’s credit card on a trip to Las Vegas.

Aldo Spinelli and Matteo Cozzani, Toti’s chief of staff, have been placed under house arrest as part of the investigation. Roberto Spinelli has been temporarily banned from conducting his business dealings.

Assets with a value of €570,000 have been seized from Signorini and the Spinellis.

Representatives of Signorini, Cozzani or the Spinellis have so far issued no comment to media. Toti’s lawyer said his client would seek to clear his name.

“From what we have seen so far, these are all matters that can be explained as part of the legitimate administrative process,” lawyer Stefano Savi tells Reuters.

Toti is accused of receiving €74,100 from Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli in return for a series of “business favours.”

In a separate strand of the investigation, prosecutors said Matteo Cozzani, Toti’s chief of staff, is accused of “electoral corruption”, including striking votes-for-jobs deals with suspected members of a Sicilian Mafia clan based in Genoa.