Urban planning investigation in Milan: the Riesame annuls two arrests. Prosecution: appeal to the Supreme Court

A twist in the Milanese urban planning enquiry: the arrests of businessman Andrea Bezziccheri and former Landscape Commission member Alessandro Scandurra, who ended up respectively in jail and under house arrest last 31 July, have been cancelled. As anticipated by Corriere della Sera online, both are therefore free again. This was decided by the Court of Re-examination of Milan. Bezziccheri was held in San Vittore prison on remand, Scandurra was under house arrest.

This is the first stop to the investigation for corruption and forgery in the Milanese construction industry.

The motivations, which will be filed in a month and a half, of the two measures taken on the petitions to annul the pre-trial detention order, ordered by gip Mattia Fiorentini last 31 July and presented by lawyers Andrea Soliani for Bezziccheri and Giacomo Lunghini for Scandurra, are not known. The re-examination could have argued on the absence of 'serious clues' on the charges of corruption (Bezziccheri) and bribery and false statements (Scandurra) or on the lack of current precautionary needs to arrest them. Still to be discussed, after today's postponement, are the requests to revoke house arrest for the former councillor for Urban Regeneration, Giancarlo Tancredi, the former chairman of the Landscape Commission, Giuseppe Marinoni, the CEO of Coima, Manfredi Catella, and the former manager of the engineering company J+S, Federico Pella. Three of the four hearings are scheduled to take place on Thursday, with a decision to be made shortly thereafter. Catella's is still to be scheduled for next week.

Scandurra, who was released today, is also charged with bribery with the real estate developer, who built Porta Nuova, for the affair of the vote in the Landscape Commission of the P39-Pirellino project in October 2023 in which he is accused of having received a 28,000 euro bribe from Coima. The decision against him is also likely to have repercussions for Catella. Tancredi, Marinoni and Pella, on the other hand, answer for other and various alleged corrupt episodes and false statements.

The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office will appeal to the Court of Cassation against the decision of Milan's Court of Re-examination to annul the arrests of Bluestone's owner Andrea Bezziccheri and former Landscape Commission member Alessandro Scandurra, who ended up respectively in prison and under house arrest on 31 July. Deputy Tiziana Siciliano and prosecutors Marina Petruzzella, Paolo Filippini and Mauro Clerici had requested and obtained from the gip Mattia Fiorentini the arrest of six people in the Milanese urban planning investigation. The grounds for the re-examination decision, by which Bezziccheri and Scandurra were freed, are expected in 45 days.