Carabinieri of the provincial command of Catania are executing a precautionary measure order against 11 people including political exponents, municipal officials and entrepreneurs accused, in various capacities, of political-mafia electoral exchange, extortion aggravated by the mafia method, aggravated corruption, incitement to the corruption and disturbed freedom of enchantments.
Among those arrested is the mayor of Tremestieri Etneo, Santi Rando. His political opponent, Mario Ronsisvalle, later his ally, was under house arrest. The vice president of the Region, regional councilor for Agriculture Luca Sammartino of the League, who is under investigation for corruption, has been suspended from public functions for a year.
Sammartino is the reference shareholder of Salvini's League in Sicily. He is among the most prominent politicians on the island and in the last two regional elections he was the most voted or among the most voted in Sicily. In the internal dispute within the League a few months ago, the Sammartino faction had prevailed over the wing that referred to MEP Annalisa Tardino who was later replaced as leader of the Northern League by Claudio Durigon. In the past he had been a member of the UDC, then moved to the Democratic Party and subsequently joined Italia Viva, before arriving at the League.
The provision was issued as part of investigations by the Carabinieri investigative unit of the Catania provincial command conducted between 2018 and 2021 and coordinated by the Etna district prosecutor's office. The investigation, called Pandora, would reveal illicit agreements between some administrators of the Municipality of Tremestieri Etneo and elements close to the Santaopaola-Ercolano mafia gang, concerning the election in 2015 of the current mayor Santi Rando, recipient of a precautionary custody order in prison for political-mafia electoral exchange and aggravated corruption. Further investigations would have shed light on what the Prosecutor's Office defines as "the subsequent 'business degeneration' of the organisation, implemented by disloyal officials through numerous bribes, to grant permits and assign jobs to 'friendly entrepreneurs'".
Furthermore, according to the reconstruction of the prosecution, "a strategy of the municipal leaders" aimed at "neutralizing every form of political opposition" would emerge. For the Prosecutor's Office it would have been "the corrupt agreement with the historic opposition councilor Mario Ronsivalle, which then passed among Rando's supporters for the 2021 administrative elections".
Ronsisvalle, owner of a pharmacy in Tremestieri, contests the Prosecutor's Office "also thanks to the intervention of Luca Rosario Sammartino, the mayor's main political contact, at the time of the facts regional deputy and current vice-president of the Region, he would have been advantaged through the reduction of the number of the pharmacies present in the municipal organic plan, promising in exchange electoral support, for the 2019 European elections, to the candidate supported by Sammartino".
The act was notified to Sammartino at dawn and he had returned from Vinitaly yesterday
At dawn, Luca Sammartino, vice president of the Sicilian Region and Councilor for Agriculture, was served with the notice of investigation for corruption as part of the investigation by the Catania Prosecutor's Office. The carabinieri knocked on the door of his home in Catania around 6am. Sammartino had returned yesterday from Vinitaly where he managed Sicily's participation in the Verona Fair.
Schifani ready to revoke Sammartino's delegation
Revocation of the delegation in sight for Luca Sammartino (Lega), vice president of the Sicilian Region and councilor for Agriculture, investigated in the Pandora investigation by the Catania Prosecutor's Office and suspended from public functions for a year. Having heard the news, the governor of Sicily, Renato Schifani, immediately got to work.
It is probable, at this point, that Schifani will keep the delegation for himself at least until the European elections. The suspension for one year will also prevent Sammartino from carrying out the role of regional deputy, he is registered in the parliamentary group of the League.
Vice president of the Anti-Mafia in Sicily, 'massacre of the Schifani government'
"The facts concerning Luca Sammartino demonstrate that we are faced with a political massacre of the Schifani government. Sammartino is in fact Schifani's number 2 and I hope that the President of the Region will remove him immediately and make a serious reflection on the continuation of his mandate as governor. Sicily has suffered dozens of arrests for mafia and corruption in recent days, we are faced with a real social alarm." This was said by the vice president of the Anti-Mafia and regional anti-corruption, Ismaele La Vardera, commenting on the investigation by the Catania Prosecutor's Office which involved the deputy governor Luca Sammartino (Lega), under investigation for corruption.