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U.S. editionOn Wednesday, October 21 carabinieri of the Ros acquired documents at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and at the Cipess, according to ANSA, on a mandate from the Rome prosecutors. La Repubblica and La Stampa write that the Ros is tasked with acquiring material also at the Dipe, at the Stretto di Messina company and at the consortium. The three outlets speak of records and documents. The texts contain no names of suspects and no alleged offences. No comments from the Mit or the companies are reported.
The Cipess and the Dipe are the stages at which a major project receives approvals and funding, so the acquisition touches the decision-making chain behind the project. Extending the collection of records to several offices shows that the magistrates are reconstructing the whole administrative path.
If you follow the debate on the Bridge, it is useful to distinguish between the gathering of papers and formal accusations. For now nothing changes for construction sites or funding, but news can arrive in waves.
For those who view the project with suspicion, the extension of the investigation to several offices confirms that checks are needed at every level. This reading stresses the number of parties involved.
For those who defend the project, acquiring documents is an ordinary step in an investigation and does not indicate responsibility. This reading recalls that no suspects appear in the available texts.
It is confirmed that the Ros acquired records on behalf of the Rome public prosecutor’s office; it is not confirmed who is a suspect or for which offence. Today it is worth watching whether official communications arrive from the Mit or the Stretto di Messina company.
ANSA (acquisition at the Mit and the Cipess, 21/10) · La Repubblica (investigation widens, 21/10) · La Stampa (records at the Mit and the companies, 21/10)
Strait of Messina Bridge, the investigation widens: the Ros acquires documents at the Mit, the Cipess and the companies
The carabinieri are working on a mandate from the Rome public prosecutor’s office, while other offices are named as the next targets of the document seizures.
The investigation into the Strait of Messina Bridge is widening. According to ANSA, on Wednesday, October 21 carabinieri of the Ros acquired documents at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Mit, and at the Cipess, the interministerial committee that approves major projects, on a mandate from the prosecutors of the Rome public prosecutor’s office. La Repubblica and La Stampa write on the morning of the same day that the activity does not stop at the two offices: Ros officers are tasked with acquiring material also at the Dipe, the department of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers that deals with economic planning, at the Stretto di Messina company and at the consortium in charge of the project. The three outlets speak of the acquisition of records and documents and not of measures against individuals.
ANSA places the news in the early afternoon of Wednesday; Repubblica and La Stampa headline the investigation that widens, with prosecutors acquiring records at the Mit and at the companies. In the texts the sources name the Rome public prosecutor’s office as the holder of the case file and the Ros as its operational arm; they give no names of suspects, no alleged offences and no date for the next phases. In the accounts of ANSA, Repubblica and La Stampa there are no comments from the Mit, the Cipess or the Stretto di Messina company. It remains to be seen which records were taken from the offices, how long the examination of the material will last and whether there will be further checks. The government of Giorgia Meloni, which has backed the project, is not cited in the available passages as the recipient of any measures. The number of prosecutors working on the case file has not been disclosed.
Word of the day
RosJusticeThe carabinieri’s Raggruppamento operativo speciale (special operational group), the investigative unit that carries out the most complex investigations on behalf of magistrates.