“Acquitted, because the fact does not exist”. A very long liberating embrace between Enzo Del Giudice and his lawyers (father Franco was not present in the courtroom) sanctioned the end of the criminal proceedings against the two Delcomar shipowners, acquitted by the judge of the Court of Cagliari , Maria Cristina Ornano, with the broadest possible formula.
They were accused of assisting in obtaining public funds, disturbing the freedom of enchantments, fraud in public supplies, forgery of public deeds and an attack on navigational safety at the end of the investigation by the Guardia di Finanza into the regional tender with which the company had awarded the connections between Sardinia and the smaller islands of Carloforte and La Maddalena. A contract worth over 71 million euros, renewable up to 9 years for a total of 104 million euros.
The public prosecutor Giangiacomo Pilia following the investigations of the financiers and the advice of his own experts was convinced that Delcomar had participated in the tender with ferries that did not comply with the tender . Last May he had asked for Franco and Enzo Del Giudice to be sentenced to 6 and 4 years in prison, but Judge Ornano had reopened the investigation by appointing a super-expert expert: an engineer former rear admiral of the navy who clarified that the ships they complied with the announcement .
Meanwhile, at the end of the investigation, in May 2021 the Delcomar fleet and the corporate assets of the owners had been seized by the Gip Ermengarda Ferrarese at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, for a value of 64 million euros . Kidnapping that today failed with the acquittal of both with the broadest formula. Following the report of the super-expert appointed by the Court , prosecutor Pilia also changed his position, requesting acquittal .
Fighting vigorously in recent years to defend the regularity of the behavior of their clients was a board of criminal, administrative and commercial law lawyers made up of Chicco Tirotto, Massimo Massa, Marcello Vignolo, Massimo Ledda, Matteo Pinna and Stefano Demuro. The investigation was born from some anonymous complaints who had hypothesized that, in the section between Sardinia and Carloforte, two old non-compliant ferries had been used with respect to the provisions of the announcement , to replace the two suitors who had been sold to a other company.
The judge 's expert determined that the replacement vessels used were in excess of those sold . Not only. One of the main accusations of the prosecutor was that the ships were not suitable for people with reduced mobility, a requirement required by the tender: the super-expert established that this was not the case. Hence the absolution from all charges: because the fact does not exist.
