Arrests and precautionary measures for Lucanian politicians involved in an investigation into corruption and ties with organized crime. The regional governor is also implicated.
A wave of arrests and precautionary measures has hit Lucanian politics as part of an investigation by the Potenza District Anti-Mafia Directorate. Placed under house arrest are the Forza Italia group leader in the Regional Council Francesco Piro, the agriculture councilor Francesco Cupparo, and the former health councilor Rocco Leone, as well as the director of the San Carlo Hospital in Potenza. Governor Vito Bardi is among the more than one hundred individuals under investigation who remain at liberty.
The charges include undue inducement, corruption, attempted extortion, and, for Piro, also relations with members of Calabrian organized crime for personal, political, and electoral purposes. The alleged crimes concern suspected irregularities in the transfer of healthcare personnel and during municipal consultations. Searches were conducted at the Basilicata Region offices and the San Carlo Hospital.
Governor Bardi, after surrendering his mobile phone and seeing computers and tablets seized from his office, declared his willingness to cooperate with investigators. He emphasized that the resolutions under investigation are "public acts, approved without ulterior motives" and that he received no favors.
The investigation, termed "Lucanian political corruption," is being conducted by the Police and Carabinieri coordinated by Chief Prosecutor Francesco Curcio and Deputy Prosecutor Vincenzo Montemurro of the Potenza District Anti-Mafia Directorate. This is not the first time Governor Bardi has ended up in the crosshairs of Prosecutor Curcio. In the past, when he was a general of the Yellow Flames and deputy commander of the Guardia di Finanza, he was investigated as part of the inquiry into the so-called "P4."
That investigation, which dates back several years, involved former MP Alfonso Papa, accused of using confidential information about ongoing investigations to blackmail entrepreneurs. Bardi was accused of aiding and abetting and disclosing secrets, but his case was dismissed the following year by the preliminary investigation judge at the prosecutor's request. The current proceeding, however, focuses on alleged irregularities in the regional healthcare system and the management of hospital staff.
At the center of the allegations are alleged pressures on the former general director of the San Carlo Hospital, Massimo Barresi, regarding the transfer of anesthesiologists. Barresi, removed from his position in 2020, provided extensive statements to investigators. The situation risks paralyzing the Region's activities at a time that the governor himself has described as "an unprecedented crisis."
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