Admiral Nicola Carlone , until last September the commander general of the Port Authorities Corps, and another high-ranking Coast Guard officer, Roberto Isidori , deputy chief of staff to Minister Matteo Salvini (not involved in the investigation), are under investigation in the investigation into free travel aboard ships of the Onorato group . The Genoa prosecutor's office has put forward corruption charges against both. The long list of suspects also includes the group's founder Vincenzo Onorato and his sons Achille and Alessandro , who have been accused of corruption . The charge also extends to the group's three companies: Moby Spa, Cin (Tirrenia-Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione) Spa, and Toremar Spa.

There are currently 120 people under investigation, including officials and top officials of the Port Authority and other law enforcement agencies , accused of having offered their services in exchange for free ferry tickets.

This is one of the latest developments in the corruption investigation by prosecutor Walter Cotugno who in recent months has requested a new seizure of the email accounts of 14 of the top management and employees (all under investigation) of the companies Moby, Cin, and Toremar, which the prosecution is contesting under law 231, the administrative responsibility of the entity.

The prosecution claims that the acquisition of email addresses was necessary because some of them had already revealed evidence of the practice of giving tickets away to anyone who might be useful for ship inspections.

The investigation also revealed that one of Moby's addresses was being emptied every day and it was not possible to recover the conversations .

The investigation erupted in April, leading to the seizure of several ferries worth €64 million, a measure later overturned by the preliminary investigations court . According to the prosecution, the company's vessels failed to meet the requirements set by international environmental regulations : some components of the main engines and power generators had been tampered with or replaced with non-original spare parts, thus violating standards that had been circumvented by false declarations in the registers or by counterfeiting authentication marks required by public authorities. And, to cover up, company executives allegedly gave away 34,000 tickets , "unequivocally linked," investigators say, to preferential treatment.

Among the seized material was also a "corruption price list": the port commander and his deputy were entitled to free tickets, VIP treatment, and a 30% discount for friends, while the head of navigation safety received full exemption with no extras.

One of the incidents under investigation dates back to September 2020, when the ferry Athara underwent a surprise inspection. Moby CEO Achille Onorato reportedly wrote to Armament Commander Vicidomini: "This is becoming a joke and must be dealt with. Call the admiral and let's put an end to this farce."

The two interlocutors were Nicola Carlone, then commander of Genoa, and his deputy Filippo Marini, now commander of Venice. They received 10 and 28 free trips. But others, like Isidori, collected more, with 64.

(Unioneonline)

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