Former Vice-President of the Sicilian Regional Government, Giuseppe Armao, placed under house arrest for corruption
The investigating judge accepted the prosecution’s argument that Armao, who is also an adviser to the regional president, had pocketed money in exchange for favours
House arrest on corruption charges for the former vice-president of the Sicilian Regional Government, the lawyer Gaetano Armao, husband of Giusi Bortolozzi, former chief of staff to the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio. The precautionary measure was ordered by the investigating magistrate in Palermo, Giuseppa Zampino, in connection with the corruption investigation relating to certain environmental authorisations.
House arrest has also been imposed on lawyer Pierluigi Matta and on Luigi Zancla, former chairman of the Samo non-profit organisation. The court has therefore accepted the prosecution’s argument that Armao, who is also an adviser to the regional president, is alleged to have pocketed money in exchange for favours.
However, the measures concerning MPA regional councillor Giuseppe Lombardo, Mario Lupo (chairman of ‘Samot Onlus’) and the entrepreneurs Sergio Vella (of Seap Bio Energy), Giuseppe Argirò and Marco Gentile Malacarne (former chief executive and former co-director general of CVA, the Aosta Valley Water Company).
Investigating magistrate: “At least four cash handovers from Matta to Armao have been documented”
“The wiretap recordings document at least four handovers made by lawyer Pierluigi Matta to Gaetano Armao, on 6 October 2025, 10 November 2025, 9 February 2026 and 7 August 2026, all characterised by their confidential nature, references to monthly payments made by CVA and subsequent concealment by the public official”. So stated the investigating magistrate in Palermo in the order that led to the two lawyers, Armao and Matta, being placed under house arrest on corruption charges. “In the first incident, Matta took a wad of banknotes from the inside pocket of his jacket, contained in a plastic bag, and handed it to Armao; when the latter asked him to clarify which period the sum referred to, Matta replied ‘August’ – as stated in the investigating magistrate’s order – Armao then took the money and put it back into the inside pocket of his own jacket. The handover took place after C.V.A. Eos had credited Matta with €9,832.96 on 11 September 2025 as remuneration relating specifically to the month of August 2025.” “In the second incident, on 10 November 2025, Matta placed a white envelope containing a bulky item in the car’s glove compartment; immediately afterwards, he wrote a note on a piece of paper, which Armao read, whereupon he uttered the word ‘SEPTEMBER’. In this case too, the reference corresponded to the monthly payment indicated on the invoice issued by Matta and in the subsequent payment of €9,832.96 from C.V.A. Eos.
‘The caution shown in communicating the reason for the payment via a note, the subsequent decision to dispose of it, and the absence of any formal record of the handover are elements incompatible with ordinary, lawful economic transactions’ – the text continues -The third incident, documented on 9 February 2026, is even more significant. On 7 February 2026, Armao asked Matta, in a low voice, when he would be bringing the additional sums and how much they would amount to. On the following 9 February, after visiting a bank branch, Matta met Armao and used the latter’s overcoat to conceal the handover; Armao specifically asked where the money had been placed and, shortly afterwards, removed a package from his overcoat, which he concealed inside a container housed within a pendulum clock. This incident took place just a few days after CVA Eos had paid Matta three months’ back pay totalling €29,498.88.” “The fourth incident, which took place on 7 August 2026, involved the handover of two envelopes concealed inside a folder, visibly containing 50.00-euro notes (“for now, eight!!”, as had been agreed at the meeting in Romandia on 4 August 2026). In this latest instance too, the incident followed by just a few days the payment, on 29 July 2026, of the remuneration for May 2026 received by CVA – writes the investigating judge – Added to these incidents are conversations in which Armao expresses a need for money; Matta states that he has ‘everything noted down’; the two refer to the C.V.A. monthly payments and the contract renewal; Armao urges Matta to request payments from the company and Armao himself demonstrates knowledge of the status of the contractual relationship and the related remuneration”.
