Corruption, former Sogei CEO: 'I took money from February 2023'. The sights on Elon Musk's Starlink project

Sogei revoked the appointments and positions of Paolino Iorio, the former general manager arrested for corruption. At the same time, he ordered a report to be sent to the Court of Auditors and appointed a criminal lawyer to protect Sogeti as an injured party. Meanwhile, Iorio admitted to having taken "money since February 2023" from entrepreneur Massimo Rossi, legal representative of the companies Italware and Itd Solution. Prosecutors contest that he took bribes amounting to 100,000 euro. Rossi, on the other hand, has exercised his right not to answer.

The handcuffs were snapped on Monday evening. In flagrante delicto. The now former director general of Sogei (a company 100% owned by the Mef), Paolino Iorio, was found in the flat of Massimo Rossi, legal representative of Italware and Itd Solution, while he was stuffing an envelope with a €15,000 bribe inside. It would be one of two monthly bribes that the manager would have taken from the entrepreneur since 2023, as a quid pro quo for five different IT supplies for Sogei worth 104.3 million euro.

The investigators of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome and the Nucleo valutario got there thanks to environmental and telephone interceptions. They followed the movements of the manager and the entrepreneur for months. They monitored 'numerous meetings', the court documents state, 'which took place between the two of them about twice a month, mainly at Rossi's home, where Iorio seemed to withdraw sums of money in the order of tens of thousands of euro'. This would have been proved by environmental recordings in Iorio's car, which recorded 'soliloquies' of the Director General of Sogei himself. Moreover, the investigators specify in the documents, 'the meetings' between Iorio and Rossi 'were always preceded by the receipt by Rossi of cash in suspicious ways and through direct and untraceable delivery of cash'. According to the prosecutors, therefore, Iorio for 'the performance of his duties' would 'receive on a fortnightly basis from Rossi sums of money'.

The investigation is very broad. The focus is on contracts worth more than 305 million euro tendered not only by Sogei, but also by the Defence General Staff, the police, the navy and the Ministry of the Interior. The hypothesis is that they were all manipulated. Among the 32 people under investigation (18 individuals and 14 companies) is Antonio Angelo Masala, a navy officer seconded to the VI C4I Systems Department of the General Staff.

The soldier moved on several fronts together with his wife, Valentina Patrignani, creating wide-ranging advantages for the 180 million euro Spada contract from the General Staff that ended up with the companies Italware and Dmira. In return, he allegedly pocketed bribes from a €1 million worth of false invoices. But bribes were also allegedly received by the Olidata company headed by Cristiano Rufini, which is part of the 'sales chain' of the Spada contract and whose share capital is held 4.8% by Masala's wife.