Incitement to corruption. This is the charge to which Matteo Mazzamurro and Giuseppe Laera, respectively lieutenant colonel and lieutenant of the Air Force (3rd Engineering Department of Bari), arrested as part of an investigation concerning the expropriation procedure for public utility of private land for the extension, financed by NATO, of the Sigonella air base in Sicily.

The investigations, conducted by the Guardia di Finanza coordinated by the Catania Public Prosecutor's Office, began after the complaint of a collaborator of one of the companies that own the land.

On the basis of the investigators' findings, the two Air Force soldiers, in charge of following the administrative procedure of the expropriation procedure of the vast area (we are talking about 100 hectares) bordering the base, would have urged the owner of the land to pay a sum of money in cash, promising in exchange a higher compensation (up to 35 thousand euros per hectare) compared to market values (18 thousand euros), the enlargement of the area to be expropriated (so as to guarantee greater advantage to the private individual) and a payment faster than allowances.

"The investigations - explain the investigators - have made it possible to ascertain that the public officials under investigation, in exchange for making their function available, have, on several occasions, requested an illegal compensation from the owner of the land, established through a tariff that provided for a percentage (from 1 to 3 per cent) in favor of public officials, based on the increase in the value of the expropriation allowance ".

(Unioneonline / lf)