Matteo Renzi was acquitted by the preliminary investigations judge of Florence Sara Farini for the investigation into the Open foundation , created to support the political initiatives of the leader of Italia Viva when he was secretary of the Democratic Party. Maria Elena Boschi and all 9 other suspects were also acquitted with him, including the former minister Luca Lotti, the entrepreneur Marco Carrai and the lawyer Alberto Bianchi .
Renzi, Boschi and Carrai were charged with the sole crime of illegal financing of political parties . Among the other hypotheses of crime contested by the prosecution under various titles were also influence peddling, corruption, self-laundering and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions .
According to the prosecution, Open - whose president was Bianchi and the board of directors included Boschi, Lotti and Carrai - would have acted as a real party articulation, and in particular of the current of the PD linked to Matteo Renzi. Approximately 3.5 million euros is the money that, according to the prosecution, would have arrived in the coffers of the organization from 2014 to 2018 in violation of the rules on party financing .
Charges contested by Renzi who has engaged in a battle also with complaints against the prosecutors of the investigation. The preliminary hearing opened on April 3, 2022 and lasted for over two years, with also an appeal to the Constitutional Court on the conflict of powers. In the courtroom today was the deputy prosecutor Luca Turco - in charge of the investigation with the prosecutor Aldo Nastasi -, who will retire on December 24.
" I am almost fifty, I have lived the last five years as a plague victim for the incredible Open investigation ", comments Matteo Renzi . "An absolute scandal for all those who had read the documents, but despite this I have been politically massacred by many, starting with Fratelli d'Italia and the Cinque Stelle . After years of suffering today comes the news: acquitted. I am acquitted, all my friends are acquitted, both political like Maria Elena and Luca and professionals like Marco, Riccardo, Alberto and all the others. Today many should apologize, Meloni and Travaglio first and foremost. They will not. Peace ".
Renzi thanks family, lawyers and friends: «They wanted to take me out with a bogus investigation. They didn't succeed. Let's start over together. But let's not forget that there are many innocent citizens who cannot defend themselves. We will continue to do politics for them too. With a smile and without revenge. But with the certainty that today the judicial system has lost and justice has won. And those who attack me with investigations, laws, ad personam campaigns do not scare me. On the contrary, they make me stronger».
"I have nothing to say to the prosecutor who accused me, Luca Turco , the same one who attacked my family," Renzi concludes. " I'm only sorry that he's retiring the day after tomorrow without paying for his illegitimate searches and his unconstitutional investigation. Those who make mistakes pay is true for many Italians, not for him ."
In the afternoon, on Tagadà on La7, Renzi declared that not only Giorgia Meloni and her party should apologize to him, but also the 5 Star Movement and part of the Democratic Party.
"The nightmare is over," Maria Elena Boschi reacted, " after years of silent suffering I have been acquitted . As a lawyer I knew the absurdity of the accusations. As a member of parliament I was certain of the correctness of our actions. But as a woman I have suffered a lot, almost always in silence."
(Online Union)
