Covid: Koala laboratory consortium in Alcamo rehabilitated, suspension annulled

Last Updated: December 9, 2023

The Review Court of Palermo has annulled the precautionary measures imposed a month ago on the legal representative of the analysis laboratory consortium Koala srl, located in Alcamo, engaged in combating the Covid emergency in 2020 on behalf of the regional health department. Fabio Benedetto De Giorgi, 43 years old, had been suspended from exercising public office or services in the healthcare sector and from laboratory analysis, as well as being temporarily banned from entering into contracts with the public administration, in addition to being prohibited from conducting business or practicing as a professional in the healthcare sector. The investigation had been extended to Palermo, where some senior officials of the health department were also under investigation. The Koala consortium had obtained the assignment for western Sicily after responding to a public notice issued to process Covid-19 diagnostic swabs. The interdictive measures had been put in place because the prosecutors and the judge believed there were discrepancies in the quality controls of 2020, showing the inadequacy of Koala srl in processing Covid swabs. However, the lawyers argued that the conformity of the structure to the regulatory framework and the technical-analytical quality of Koala had been demonstrated, describing it as “a true bulwark of the healthcare system in the most delicate period of the pandemic crisis.”