Alessandro Scandurra, former member of Milan’s dissolved Landscape Commission, asserted his impartiality during pre-trial questioning by declaring: “My ethical code prevents mixing functions.” This response came when prosecutors challenged his objectivity in evaluating, as a public official, a project by an investor who paid him €400,000 for professional services.
Under questioning by preliminary investigations judge Mattia Fiorentini, Scandurra—now under house arrest in an urban planning corruption probe—further stated regarding conflict of interest: “Had I been barred from accepting assignments from entities submitting projects to the commission, I wouldn’t have joined the Landscape Commission.”
Scandurra claimed he “lent [his] expertise, sensitivity, and knowledge to the Commission and public administration to achieve optimal outcomes.” When the judge pressed him on why he risked “a blatant conflict of interest, or at minimum a compromising situation,” asking if commission membership was “a prestige matter,” Scandurra countered: “It was civic duty, contribution, and promotion of urban culture.”