The Reggio Calabria Court of Appeal has acquitted all defendants in a case stemming from an investigation into alleged double payments made by the Reggio Calabria Provincial Health Authority (Asp) to the “Studio Radiologico Fiscer Francesco” radiology practice in Siderno. This ruling overturns the first-instance verdict from December 2022, which had convicted the defendants on charges including fraud against the Asp and the regional health service, money laundering, forgery, and falsification of records. Those sentences had ranged from 5 years and 6 months to 3 years imprisonment.
The court, presided over by Judge Alfredo Sicuro, issued the acquittal verdict “because the fact does not exist.” The decision absolves entrepreneurs Francesco and Giuseppe Fiscer; the company administrator, Pietro Armando Crinò; partners Caterina Caracciolo and Roberta Maria Strangio; the former Asp Director General Ermete Tripodi; and the former Administrative Director Pasquale Staltari.
The Appeal Court also cleared the company “Studio Radiologico Fiscer srl” of administrative wrongdoing. The firm had received a transaction worth over 7 million euros related to debt settlement for receivables which, according to the prosecution, had already been collected by the private practice.
Additionally, the judges revoked the confiscation order for the radiology practice, ordering its return to the owners.