Flaws, precedents and omissions emerge as the Court must decide whether to confirm the prison sentence for Jacques Moretti and house arrest for his wife Jessica.

Even before the New Year's Eve tragedy that claimed the lives of forty young people at the Le Constellation club, the owners had already been subjected to further criminal and administrative investigations by the authorities of the Canton of Valais. These investigations now cast new doubt on the management of the club and the controls that should have prevented the disaster.

The first, a criminal case, dates back to 2020 and revolved around COVID funds; the second, however, dates back two years and concerns the labor inspectorate. The decision for both, charged with negligent homicide, assault, and arson, is expected on Monday. That day, Italian Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornato will appear before the prosecutor's office in Sion. When questioned as a person informed of the facts, and therefore before the interrogation that led to his detention, Moretti admitted that the emergency door was locked.

Indeed, he said that when he arrived at Le Constellation, alerted to the fire, he found the door padlocked from the inside, unusually. He said he forced it open with the help of others and saw several people unconscious on the floor, whom they carried outside, including Cyane Panine, a 24-year-old bartender who was among the victims. When questioned on Friday, he did not rule out the possibility that the fire was caused by flares used on champagne bottles on New Year's Eve, but he was convinced that "there was something else."

"We've been using them for ten years and have never had any problems," he said. "When we serve a bottle in the dining room," his wife confirmed, "we systematically add a sparkling candle."

Moretti also admitted that he had purchased the insulation from a DIY store and installed it during the 2015 renovations, when they purchased the property.

Since then, the authorities have intervened twice. In 2020, Le Matin Dimanche and the SonntagsZeitung reported, a criminal investigation was opened into €75,500 in funds they had obtained as a Covid loan, partly used to purchase a Maserati later sold to Jacques' father. The investigation was dismissed because they demonstrated that the car was not their property but was in the company's accounts. In 2022, the labor inspectorate intervened after French employees reported irregularities, such as non-compliance with working hours and rest periods and unpaid night work. Another issue concerns Moretti's criminal record, as he was convicted at least once in 2008 in France for aggravated solicitation of prostitution.

Valais law stipulates that club managers cannot have prior convictions for "a crime, misdemeanor, or misdemeanor that could present a risk" in their operation, but the Morettis were granted permits for Le Constellation and then for two other clubs. According to a person close to them, quoted by Matin Dimanche, the reason was that they were only asked for their Swiss criminal records. Meanwhile, an investigation into another fire, which occurred in a building 400 meters away from the Constellation in 2022 due to a malfunctioning sauna, revealed RTS television, has highlighted the deficiencies in inspections. The fire safety officer in Lens (not the same one in charge of the Crans club), who was under investigation, admitted to failing to carry out inspections because he had over a thousand inspections to perform in the municipality, and those in schools and hotels were the priority. Meanwhile, at the Sion funeral center near the town, until now known as a quiet and luxurious ski destination, silence has returned after days of painful chaos. Questions continue to surround how such a tragedy was possible.

(Unioneonline)

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