Garlasco: Former Pavia prosecutor Mario Venditti under investigation: "He bribed Sempio to exonerate him."

We could be witnessing a sensational breakthrough in the Garlasco murder case . At first light, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza officers raided the homes of some of Andrea Sempio's relatives and the homes of former investigators who participated in the investigation into Chiara Poggi's murder. The theory is that the former Pavia prosecutor was bribed to exonerate Sempio.

Nine people were searched: Giuseppe and Daniela Ferrari, parents of Andrea Sempio, the only suspect in the new investigation; Andrea Sempio himself; three of Sempio's paternal uncles. Also searched were two former Carabinieri officers active in 2017, who worked in the Judicial Police section of the Pavia Courthouse: former Marshal Giuseppe Spoto and former Lieutenant Silvio Sapone. Finally, former Pavia prosecutor Mario Venditti, who twice closed the investigation into Sempio .

The searches also included "the places of residence, including occasional residence, appurtenances and vehicles" of the nine people, as well as their "PCs, smartphones, tablets and any other data storage devices".

The former prosecutor, now chairman of the board of directors of the Campione d'Italia casino, is being investigated by the Brescia prosecutor's office for corruption in judicial proceedings . According to reports, investigators are searching for evidence of the cash flows that would prove the alleged corruption .

According to the Prosecutor's Office, "it appears that at the beginning of February 2017, and therefore concurrently with the investigations following Sempio's initial registration as a suspect" for the murder of Chiara Poggi, " the payment of a sum of money to Deputy Prosecutor Venditti in connection with the dismissal of the case was proposed or at least hypothesized."

According to the Brescia Public Prosecutor's Office, " the investigations conducted in 2017 against Andrea Sempio were characterised by a series of anomalies , including the omission, by the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, of the transmission of some relevant passages of the environmental interceptions".

"Some shady contacts" with personnel from the police department emerged, "and the short duration of Andrea Sempio's interrogation" suggests "the likely advance knowledge on the part of members of the Sempio family of the issues on which they would be questioned by the public prosecutors ."

After the searches, Sempio's parents were taken to the barracks, at the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza in Pavia, for questioning.

THE CLUES

The suspicion arose from some old wiretaps and a pen note on a notepad with the words "Venditti / investigating judge archives X 20-30 euros" and the date "February 2016." A memo that appears to be in the handwriting of Giuseppe Sempio, Andrea's father , but with the date brought forward by a year since the archiving occurred in 2017.

There are also some suspicious withdrawals being examined by investigators. As are some bank transactions of Sempio's parents at the time of the investigation, cross-referenced with those of his uncles, namely his father's sisters and brother. And again, cash withdrawals and wiretaps that would reveal the "need to pay those gentlemen in untraceable ways."

This framework also includes a rereading of some wiretaps in which the father, Giuseppe, explained to Andrea Sempio : " Anyway, he said he'll ask you about the things that have been filed . It's not that... Massimo, if he slips in some questions that you don't... you tell him, look, I don't remember, it's been ten years."

THE DEFENSE OF SEMPIO

"They're calm and cooperating, examining their PCs and phones and taking minutes," said Massimo Lovati, Andrea Sempio's lawyer. "Honestly, the sums mentioned in the note that was allegedly found—€20,000 or €30,000—seem too low a basis for a corruption allegation against such a professional."

THE DEFENSE OF STASI

"The accusation is so serious that I believe it shouldn't be commented on by a mere lawyer. The magistrates will demonstrate the validity of these investigations, but the gravity of the alleged facts is unprecedented." This is what Antonio De Rensis, Alberto Stasi's defense attorney, said about the new investigation into the Garlasco case, which has former prosecutor Mario Venditti under investigation.

The investigation that landed Stasi in prison was riddled with errors and horrors, like erasing an alibi. Today's investigation in Pavia and the one in Brescia are riddled with in-depth investigations. Here, we add, not take away. And when we add, we usually make fewer mistakes.

THE FORMER CARABINIERI

The investigation also focuses on two former Carabinieri officers from the Pavia Prosecutor's Office's Judicial Police Section, former Marshal Giuseppe Spoto and former Lieutenant Silvio Sapone.

The Brescia prosecutors, in addition to the elements already revealed regarding the alleged aberrant handling of the investigation and the alleged cost of corruption, highlight "opaque contacts" between Andrea Sempio, Spoto, and Sapone. According to the decree, the young man and his family members allegedly engaged in "unrelated contacts" with the two investigators at the time, particularly with Sapone, shortly before the hearings at the Prosecutor's Office, or contacts of "incongruous duration," particularly with Spoto.

For example, prosecutors also note that when Sempio was served with the summons to appear for questioning eight years ago, then-Marshal Spoto "lingered at Sempio Andrea's for a very long time, incompatible with merely performing the service." He reportedly arrived at Sempio at 4:35 PM and served the summons more than an hour later, at 5:45 PM.

According to the investigation, Sapone allegedly had "particularly close and closely related relationships with the suspect Venditti," the then deputy prosecutor. He also allegedly had "contact with Andrea Sempio prior to the notification, although there was no evidence of an investigative reason related to this need." The Brescia prosecutors suspect that Sempio and his family knew about the investigation before the friend of Chiara Poggi's brother was formally informed.

(Unioneonline/L)