Luigi Patronaggio, Attorney General of Cagliari, does not pronounce words, he weighs them. One by one. He uses the scalpel, but the effect is that of a scimitar. It will be the hard trench, that of the authentic mafia, lived in that Sicily fatally struck by massacres and organized crime, it will be the experience of having to move under the radar in order not to grant advantages to the enemy to fight, the fact is that when it scans a thought it sculpts phenomena and numbers that leave no way out: the concentration of investments by Putin's oligarchs in Sardinia is an alarming and at the same time underestimated phenomenon.
Falcone and Borsellino
He, the last-minute friend of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, knows the meanders of organized crime, of that mafia capable of circulating business and money in half the world, in its most complex aspect, that of international relations. Indecipherable match, full of financial subterfuges and corporate intrigues, white-collar workers and powerful people who do not deprive themselves of anything. His arrival on the island, precisely because of his direct experience in the fight against the mafia, is in itself a decisive value precisely when "pizzini" and weed infiltrations risk pervading even the land of Sardinia. His landing on Sardinian soil, however, coincided with the outbreak of war, with Putin's armed assault on Ukraine. It is the time of the "freezes" of assets, of the Arabian Nights villas, of billionaire yachts transformed into real very private sets for high-end affairs and conspiracies of all kinds.
Oligarchic business
A system that of oligarchic affairs in Sardinian land cannot escape the man who challenged the 'massomafia' in Trapani, in the Isis 2 trial, or the committee of big mafia affairs in procurement, ending with the historic 'Akragas' trial ', concluded with twenty-one life sentences, including that of Giovanni Brusca. That of Luigi Patronaggio is not an interview, if anything a profound and urgent appeal, on which the Sardinian judiciary and not only is called to arms, those of investigation and judicial action. Dictating the agenda of Italian politics, complete with the government summoned to parliament, is the story of the last oligarch in Sardinian sauce we covered in the recent investigations of our newspaper: that Artem Uss, arms dealer for Putin and smuggler of oil, capable of escaping, complete with an electronic bracelet, from Padania to reach, without a fight, the Siberian steppes. Of his escape, the Sardinian magistrate does not want to talk, his is an analysis that goes far beyond the contingent. There is an unexplored chapter on which for at least a year Luigi Patronaggio, with the Attorney General of Cagliari, in connection with the entire Sardinian judiciary, has been working at 360 degrees, crossing data, verifying and finding a vortex of money hidden behind tax havens , with business mostly covered by corporate castles around the world. The question is disruptive: is it legitimate money, or does it come from illegal businesses, such as the trafficking of weapons, oil, wood smuggling or rare materials?
Russian infiltration
The Attorney General gets straight to the point: «The recent escape of Artem Uss, a Russian tycoon closely linked to Putin's military interests, from house arrest awaiting extradition to the USA, regardless of all the responsibilities to be ascertained for his escape, poses for the judiciary, and for the Sardinian prosecutors in particular, a problem of maximum attention on the Russian economic penetrations in Sardinia ». If this is the theme, Luigi Patronaggio, in this first year of work, has already circumscribed its economic and financial boundaries. The numbers that the Attorney General puts on paper are much more than an alarm: "Recent intelligence studies have ascertained that as much as 80% of Russian investments in Italy are concentrated in Sardinia, Olbia and in particular in the Costa Smeralda" . Shocking numbers, capable of confirming without appeal a suspicion hitherto only perceived: a frightening volume of "roubles" from Russia is being concentrated on the island. Most of the time it is uncontrolled and uncontrollable capital, without a certain origin, capable of altering market conditions, bringing Sardinian economic operators to their knees and not only called to compete with Russian capital of dubious origin.
Suspicious investments
The Prosecutor becomes more explicit when he addresses the issue of the origin of these Russian resources in Sardinia: «Today, after the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and indirectly against the strategic economic interests of the West, we need to question the legitimacy of those investments. In particular, it is difficult to consider lawful reinvestments in Italy of capital produced through arms trafficking, electronic components, rare raw materials or even just traditional energy sources». The affirmation is circumspect, but at the same time explicit: capitals deriving from activities such as trafficking of various kinds, from weapons to rare raw materials cannot be considered lawful investments.
"Russian" alarm
Luigi Patronaggio's alarm is in large letters, an appeal that goes far beyond the case of the escape of Artem Uss, which is in itself extremely serious. His words are a collective exhortation to the Sardinian judiciary: "It requires a careful study of these dynamics which the Attorney General directed by me has been deeply interested in this last year, stimulating sector studies and investigations". In this direction, precisely because of the complex and innovative subject, it is essential to form a team of magistrates capable of pursuing this unexplored "Russian infiltration" into the Sardinian economy with determination and professionalism. Patronaggio says: «The training of investigators and prosecutors is not neglected either, which is carried out with the high collaboration of the regional command of the Guardia di Finanza, in order to penetrate the complex corporate and financial investment operations carried out by Russian citizens ». An overall picture that requires a well-defined and determined strategy, with a very harsh reference to those who lend themselves to favoring these coverages: «The investigations are particularly complex because these Russian entrepreneurs operate through multinational companies, or with offices in tax havens , and not least because they enjoy the favors of paid local professionals».
Sos state security
The Attorney General's analysis, however, does not stop at the economic-financial aspects, but opens up a disturbing, unprecedented scenario: "The subject is particularly sensitive and not only from the point of view of money laundering, but also of the same security of the State, given that these oligarchs, for years, through their helicopters, planes and private yachts, using their immense villas located on the beautiful and inaccessible coasts of northern Sardinia as bases, could have, but it is only a hypothesis to be verified, put activities of interference in confidential affairs of the Italian Republic". Assumptions as heavy as they are alarming, precisely because they are made by a man with the most delicate experience, that of the fight against the mafia. The risk of "interference in the confidential affairs of the Republic" is a very severe reminder, which leaves no middle ground: the alarm on the affairs of the oligarchs in Sardinia is a matter of state. The call is authoritative, strong and without half measures: «I believe that this attention, even more so after the Uss case, requires a dutiful leap in quality in the investigations and that the Italian and Sardinian investigating judiciary must give their own, albeit small , contribution in this sad season of war». On the sensational escape of Artem Uss, complete with the Russian secret services involved in the operation, it is legitimate to ask the question of possible Italian complicity in the operation.
Avoidable escape
The seasoned magistrate Luigi Patronaggio does not give in to tensions for a single moment: «I don't want to enter into the controversy between the Milanese judiciary and Minister Nordio, I don't have sufficient elements of evaluation in this regard. I limit myself to observing that such delicate situations due to the repercussions of international politics cannot be governed solely with the normal means of the code of penal procedure and with the formal observance of the strict rules set up to guarantee the suspects. Careful police, safety and prevention supervision would probably have overcome the problem of the alleged inadequacy of the house arrest instrument with the so-called bracelet. However, there is a thorny disciplinary investigation into the question, which concerns the relationship between the autonomy of the judges and the powers of the minister, on which, for obvious reasons, I do not intend to intervene ».
Easy money
All there was to say, Luigi Patronaggio said it. Russian affairs in Sardinia, today more than ever, are a disturbing chapter. When investments arrive in a land like Sardinia, as in this case copious and billionaires, one must always ask oneself an elementary question: where does that money come from and what is the real objective of those deals. Very often easy money is the most dangerous tool for destroying competition, legitimate competition in the market, capable of eliminating honest entrepreneurs to the detriment of rich plunderers looking for easy cheap deals. The alarm has been sounded, the alert on Russian affairs in Sardinia is now at the highest level of attention.
