On Friday, the suspended mayor of Ottana, Franco Saba, left Massama prison, where he had been transferred since the end of July, to return to house arrest. Last weekend, the investigating judge of the Nuoro Court granted the request for mitigation of the precautionary measure presented by Saba's lawyers, Gianluigi Mastio and Nicola Satta, ordering house arrest in a house far from the town of Ottana. Saba had been transferred to the Badu 'e Carros penitentiary in Nuoro 28 days ago after the Nuoro Court had increased the precautionary measure, replacing house arrest with prison detention.
The measure, as the president of the court himself clarified, was not related to the appointment of the new municipal council, but exclusively to the alleged violations (eight of them, including two escapes from house arrest) of the provisions imposed during house arrest. Then, from Badu 'e Carros, he was transferred to Massama prison.
In the meantime, the Regional Council appointed by Saba had been suspended and the Regional Commissioner Giovanni Basolu appointed, at least until September 2nd, when the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) will decide on Saba's position when he signed the Regional Council decrees.
The investigation involving Saba, coordinated by the Nuoro Public Prosecutor's Office with prosecutors Andrea Jacopo Ghironi and Riccardo Belfiori, and conducted by the DIGOS (Italian Special Operations Division), concerns an alleged incident related to the failure to hire one of Saba's city councilors at a Bess industrial plant in the Ottana area. According to the prosecution, after the position was awarded to another candidate deemed more qualified, pressure was applied, culminating in the blocking of the exceptional transport of a large transformer destined for the plant, thus resulting in the attempted extortion.