Pesaro investigation, 24 notices of indictment for corruption

There are a total of 24 notices of indictment for alleged corruption in the investigation into a series of contracts awarded by the Pesaro municipality between 2014 and 2019, which also sees Matteo Ricci, Pd MEP and candidate of the centre-left camp for president of the Regione Marche, under investigation as then mayor. In the investigation by the Pesaro Public Prosecutor's Office, carried out by the police and financial police, the suspects could be heard by the end of July.

The prosecutors of the Pesaro Public Prosecutor's Office, who delivered the notices after the arrival of the investigators' final report, accuse the addressees, including former municipal officials, representatives of participated companies and other persons, of corrupting the former mayor: according to the prosecutors, it was aimed at obtaining a sort of personal image return as a politician and administrator as well as financial benefits contested in favour of other suspects. According to the prosecution, there was basically a system that linked the Pesaro administration to some associations, including Opera Maestra and Stella Polare, which over the years obtained direct assignments, i.e. without calls for tenders, for various types of interventions (from the mural for the Segre to the Valentino Rossi cascone to parties or other events) for over EUR 500,000.

For the prosecution, the procedures put in place for these interventions would have circumvented legal obligations, with even a side dish of opaque sponsorships, resulting in corruption for various types of benefits. It was Ricci himself, yesterday in a video, who announced the notice of indictment that had been delivered to him: he said he was 'serene' but 'very bitter and angry' at the timing of the notification, as well as 'totally uninvolved' in the charges.