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CRIME

Italy vows full support in heiress murder case

Italy is ready to offer France "maximum collaboration" on solving the disappearance of an heiress in 1977, an Italian prosecutor said Thursday as the murder trial against her lover reached a climax.

Published: 11 April 2014 07:30 CEST
Italy vows full support in heiress murder case

"We would offer the maximum collaboration" and launch a full-blown probe should French judicial authorities request Italy's help in cracking the
36-year-old mystery, prosecutor Mario Mercone said.

Italian police searched through archives of murdered women as Maurice Agnelet prepared for a verdict in his trial for allegedly killing his wealthy
mistress Agnes Le Roux in Cassino near Rome nearly four decades ago.

"We are looking back through our archives for anything linked to the case," a police official in Cassino said.

Local media said the police were looking through lists of unidentified women found dead in the area but all the ones found so far have since been
named.

The town is best known for its mediaeval abbey of Monte Cassino on a forested hill overlooking the town and the area was the site of a famous World War II battle.

Agnelet was this week accused by his son of shooting Le Roux, 29, in the head during a camping trip to Cassino, before dumping her naked body.

Le Roux's body was never found and Agnelet, 76, is undergoing his third trial for her murder, which is expected to reach a verdict on Friday.

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POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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