It was supposed to be the five-star bet overlooking the Cagliari coast, but the rebirth of the Hotel Mediterraneo has come to a halt in the face of a legal dispute that has no end yet. Eight years after the change of hands between the former owners (the heirs of the Fanti family) and a Russian consortium, only the partial demolition of the old structure in Viale Diaz was seen. The redevelopment process never started, it was stopped by a dispute between the new owners.

Who is she?

«My name is Vitaly Ioghint, I was born in Russia, in Sochi and in 1995 I moved to Italy, acquiring Italian citizenship in 2009. For purely personal reasons, in 2020 I changed my surname, that is, I reacquired the original one of birth and I would like to underline that this change of surname absolutely falls outside the events of the Hotel Mediterraneo».

Where does he reside?

«I am resident in Lugano in Switzerland and since May 2012 I have been registered with Aire, as can be easily verified by simply extracting a registry certificate».

What was your role in the sale of the Hotel Mediterraneo?

«As part of the sale of the Mediterraneo hotel, I led the purchase of the companies Reistar and Reiservice, together with a former partner of mine, Konstantin Goloshchapov. Once the purchase was defined, I was a shareholder and sole director of both companies. In November 2014, I resigned from the position of sole director of Reistar, the company that owns the real estate complex, while I remained, and still am, sole director of Reiservice srl, the company that owns the hotel and café Mediterraneo».

Do you happen to come to Sardinia?

«I am often in Sardinia for work reasons, also following the collective dismissal of the former employees of the Hotel Mediterraneo and of the Caffè Mediterraneo, which has entirely weighed on my company, Reiservice srl. Dismissal due to non-delivery by Reistar srl of the hotel complex. So I never made myself untraceable."

Did you have the financial resources to buy the Hotel Mediterraneo?

«I reiterate that the purchase of the Hotel Mediterraneo was completed jointly by the undersigned and my former partner Konstantin Goloshchapov, with the acquisition of the company shares which took place, in the first phase of the operation, for 40% by me and for the 60% on the part of my former partner".

But did you need financial help from someone else?

«Allow me to clarify on the point that I have had no need for financial "aid" from anyone; and it is also in my interest to clarify that I have never had any connection, neither economic, nor political, nor personal, with the Russian president".

When did the purchase operation start?

«The entrepreneurial initiative with the Hotel Mediterraneo was the result of my highly personal economic assessments. It was identified in the first months of 2013 and conducted by the undersigned, under the agreements with my then partner Konstantin Goloshchapov".

Then what happened?

«Subsequently, however, various disputes were raised, against both my work and the contractor company, with the consequent start of a long series of legal proceedings, in civil and criminal matters. Thus determining in 2015 the interruption of the renovation works that in the meantime had already been undertaken and this caused the stalemate that still exists today, with consequent degradation of the entire area.

Did you no longer have contact with your former partner?

'I haven't been in contact with Mr. Goloshchapov since.'

How is the current judicial situation?

«To date, only the civil proceedings remain pending before the Court of Rome, with respect to which, also thanks to the assistance of the lawyer Antonio Liguori and the lawyer Antonella Migliaccio of the Kairos Legal firm of Rome, I am confident of the successful outcome, as well as it has already happened for the criminal proceedings before the Court of Cagliari in which I was always defended by the lawyer Antonio Liguori, as well as by the lawyer Francesco Emanuele Salamone, also of the Court of Rome. The proceedings have already all been archived (as already reported by this newspaper), with provisions that have clearly sanctioned the groundlessness of the serious accusations leveled against me».

Why had he decided to buy the Hotel Mediterraneo in Cagliari?

«Having experience in the hotel field, after an in-depth market research, I had found that Cagliari lacked a five-star hotel. This was the reason that convinced me of the goodness of this operation».

We intervened in a piece of history of the city .

«I was aware of the attachment of Cagliari and Cagliari citizens to the Hotel Mediterraneo. The objective that we wanted to pursue was to redevelop the entire complex to make the Mediterraneo hotel the first five-star hotel in the city and thus become, even more, a tourist reference point and a constant attraction for national tourism and international".

But will the Hotel Mediterraneo come back to life again?

«I can only say that I have not lost hope and that I hope as soon as possible to restart the activity and bring the Hotel Mediterraneo back to its former glory».

It has already been nine years since the closure. What times can be predicted?

“Unfortunately, I can't make any predictions about that. Not having been either director or partner of Reistar srl for years, I no longer have any say in the chapter on the resumption of work. To date everything is in the hands of the owner of the property, and therefore of my former partner, who has to decide if and when to resume the renovation work on the hotel».

Julius Zasso

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