House arrest of the Democratic Party deputy in the Regional Assembly of Sicily, Dario Safina. Safina is being investigated by the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office for corruption and fraud in tenders. The investigation concerns the period in which the PD deputy held the position of public works councilor in the municipality of Trapani. Safina is in her first legislature in the Sala d’Ercole. The precautionary measure was notified to Safina by the carabinieri of the investigation unit of the Trapani provincial command. The investigating judge then ordered the residence ban of two other suspects: the general director and the administrative director of Trapani Servizi Spa, which manages the waste service in the provincial capital. Temporary ban on carrying out the activity for one year, however, for the Sicilian Energy manager of a company operating in the public lighting sector. Various crimes, for different reasons, raised by the Trapani Public Prosecutor’s Office: auction fraud, corruption and disclosure of official information.
The Trapani Servizi Spa is at the center of the investigation. The company’s directors and employees, according to the Carabinieri, had “agreed in advance” to disrupt the 2020 and 2021 public competitions for the selection and appointment of the company’s general director. All this would have happened with the inclusion of requirements “strictly related to the qualifications and professional experience of the outgoing sole administrator”. Acts “contrary to official duties” would then have been adopted in the appointments of an external collaborator and the company’s technical director. Safina joins the investigation due to her role as councilor for public works in the municipality of Trapani, which she left in spring 2022 to run in the regional elections. The politician apparently “agreed in advance” with the Energy Manager to change the result of a public lighting maintenance contract. It was a project financing procedure and Safina would have informed the 45-year-old businessman “in advance” about the time of publication of the competition, the content and the base amount. In this way, according to the complaint, it would have allowed the company to win the procedure with an offer that was “consistent” with those of other competitors. Finally, among the accusations leveled against the deputy, was also that of having “allowed” the attribution to the same company of the renovation works on the lighting systems of ‘Campo Aulà and ‘Campo Con’ in Trapani: all of this would have happened ” in addition to any public tender procedure”.
The Dem representative spoke like this after the arrest: «This morning, at dawn, I was notified of an order for preventive detention under house arrest. The facts contested by the judiciary relate to the period in which I served as councilor for public works in the municipality of Trapani. The investigators bring two charges against me: corruption and bid fraud. I am calm and have a clear conscience. I am confident in the work of the Judiciary and I am sure that I will be able to clarify the matter as quickly as possible.” A new shock for Elly Schlein’s Democratic Party.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
