Matie Terese Mukamitsindo, mother-in-law of MP Aboubakar Soumahoro, finally admitted: " It's true, we haven't paid her salaries for two years ."
This is what the president of the Karibu cooperative, under investigation for aggravated fraud, false invoices and embezzlement of public funds, reiterated today before the Latina Labor Inspectorate commission.
In the conciliation report, the woman "acknowledges what one of her workers claimed", agreeing to pay her around 20 thousand euros in installments relating to salaries and thirteenth month salaries not paid between January 2021 and October 2022 , but also the thirteenth month of 2020 and the severance pay relating to the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 October last.
For two other workers, on the other hand, "the parties are currently unable to finalize any agreement", there will be a new meeting, notes the inspectorate.
Thus the woman basically admitted that her coop did not pay the salaries due to the employees. There are 26 workers who have filed complaints, complaining about the non-payment of around 400 thousand euros in total .
The parliamentarian's mother-in-law's admission could end up in the investigation file , in particular in the tranche relating to false invoices: the investigators want to understand when the non-payments began and therefore the anomalies in the payment of contributions and taxes. These offenses could have "drugged" the balance sheets of the two coops: Karibu alone owes about one million euros to the tax authorities .
Parallel to this is the investigation segment relating to the hypotheses of aggravated fraud and embezzlement of public funds. In 20 years of activity, around 60 million euros have entered the coffers of the coops: loans that the Fiamme Gialle will analyze to understand if part of the funds have been diverted elsewhere and not to pay the salaries of the employees who have decided to sue .
THE ACCUSATION OF A FARMHOUSE IN SOUMAHORO
Meanwhile, Soumahoro has been forced to deny the accusations of Mamadou Balde, a former activist of the Lega Braccianti. Balde, a former partner of the deputy, said that during the Covid a request was made for the emergency income allowance: « Soumahoro told us all to apply from our patronage, the agreement was that 25 euros would go to the patronage and 25 us laborers. We asked over 600 questions, but when the money came and we asked for our share, he ignored us. He has only exploited us, he has used us migrants to make a career ».
An "untruthful" reconstruction for the deputy, who defined Balde's words as " unfounded, twisted and imaginative ", given that the Lega Braccianti "operated in the midst of the pandemic, bringing food and essential goods to laborers in difficulty".
Following the scandal, Soumahoro suspended himself from the Verdi-Left Italy, the party with which he entered Parliament. For this reason , a meeting of his in Cagliari with Pazza Idea has also been skipped in recent days.
(Unioneonline/L)
