Embezzlement charges against Luca Pasquaretta, former spokesperson for Chiara Appendino during her tenure as Mayor of Turin with the Five Star Movement, have been formally dismissed. The case pertained to a “consultancy for the creation of an institutional communications office” awarded to him on December 6, 2018, in Matera by the Basilicata Land Reclamation Consortium.
Roberto Scillitani, the preliminary investigations judge (GIP) at the Matera Court, granted the Prosecutor’s request and ordered the case closed by decree, stating “the act does not constitute a crime.” The proceedings had been transferred to Matera from Turin judges who, during separate investigations into Pasquaretta, had identified elements of potential criminal liability in the consultancy contract.
In the dismissal request, Deputy Prosecutor Maria Christina De Tommasi emphasized that the consultancy “was never a tender procedure,” but rather a “direct appointment” chosen by the sole administrator Giuseppe Musacchio. Prosecutors had alleged Musacchio secured the role for Pasquaretta in exchange for opportunities to meet political and government figures. However, Deputy Prosecutor De Tommasi stated these contacts were “entirely compatible with the assigned task.”
The case against Musacchio in the same proceeding has also been dismissed.
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