Acquittal requested for the professors, grant holders, and university researchers. Eleven in total, charged in Sassari on various counts of ideological forgery, interference with the freedom of auctions, auction rigging, and interference with the freedom of the contractor selection process.

In a trial that reached the capital of Sassari as an offshoot of the national investigation, initiated by the Florence prosecutor's office and conducted by the Guardia di Finanza, dating back to 2016-2019, which alleged rigged tenders and distributed teaching positions at universities. The alleged corruption scheme, according to the initial charges, also found fertile ground in the Sassari area, and, as reported, eleven people were indicted, with the trial scheduled for 2022.

Today in court, the prosecutor Giovanni Porcheddu discussed, at the end of the preliminary investigation, focusing in particular on the episode of ideological forgery contested against the professor Francesco Pepe, the full professor of tax law, Valerio Ficari, who at the time taught in Sassari, Fabrizio Amatucci, full professor of tax law, and Franco Paparella, also a professor of tax law.

The accusation dates back to 2016, when, according to the investigation, there was a sort of fix to allow Pepe to win the research position at the university of Turritano, also with the participation of Guglielmo Fransoni, a professor of tax law, the latter accused only of bid-rigging.

According to the prosecutor, Pepe compiled a draft of the tender itself, which was then submitted to the panel of evaluators, composed of Ficari, Paparella, and Amatucci, who met remotely. The document, as Porcheddu recalls, had blank spaces, and the commissioners made 10 changes to it.

The magistrate focuses precisely on this aspect, requesting an acquittal because the fact does not exist. "The draft was evaluated and not accepted uncritically," he states.

Request for acquittal on the other charges of obstruction of the freedom of auctions, obstruction of an auction, and obstruction of the freedom of the contractor selection process in relation to research grants for the accused Paolo Barabino and Luca Cattani.

The prosecutor reiterates the accusation based on a university report relating to this point, which was not filled out within the declared time frame, but which the magistrate considers to be a forgery but harmless and, for this reason, requests acquittal, again because the fact does not exist.

After the prosecutor, it was the turn of the first two defense attorneys: Luca Sciaccaluga, representing Professor Carlo Massimo Ibba, Professor of Commercial Law, and Marco Costa, representing Luca Cattani. For Sciaccaluga, the Court of Cassation has repeatedly ruled that Article 353 of the Criminal Code applies only to procedures and tenders initiated by the public administration to carry out works or to award the management of services, but does not apply to all procedures in which the State or its branches, including universities, must recruit personnel.

Costa then argued that no irregularities had been demonstrated in the announcement for the research grant and that the Supreme Court's case law states that the crime of bid-rigging cannot be constituted in the hiring of personnel in public competitions.

Judge Marta Gudalupi adjourned the case until April 1st for further discussions. The lawyers are Agostinangelo Marras for Ficari, Anna Laura Vargiu for Pepe and Barabino, Giuseppe Conti and Luigi Lanucara for Paparella, Marcello D'Ascia for Amatucci, Sebastiano Chironi for Alessio Scano, Stefano Porcu for Giuseppe Scanu, and Luigi Satta for Guglielmo Fransoni.

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