Sanità a Trapani: Rigged contracts, appointments, and tenders, 10 arrests

Last Updated: December 11, 2023

More than 60 finance police officers from the provincial command of Trapani are executing a precautionary order, issued by the gip at the request of the local prosecutor’s office, against 13 suspects in an investigation into the Trapani Asp. Two people are in prison, eight are under house arrest, and three are subject to an obligation to stay. A total of 17 people are being investigated by the prosecutor’s office. The alleged offenses include corruption, inducing undue benefit, interference with the freedom of the contracting process, fraud against public entities, fraud in public procurement, and other offenses. The investigation revealed a “well-tested mechanism of domestication and manipulation of tender procedures, public tenders, and the assignment of managerial positions within Trapani’s healthcare facilities.” The investigation was initiated on the regularity of a tender launched by the Trapani Asp for the supply of medical equipment to be used in intensive care units to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, with the accusation that there were “significant deficiencies and distortive conduct” which favored a particular company. The prosecution alleges that the management of the Asp deliberately handed over evaluation, planning, and testing tasks to an external person linked to a company, essentially giving the company control over these processes.