Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
SIRACUSA – The judicial earthquake triggered by the “Nexus” investigation is engulfing politics and the municipal administration of Siracusa. The day after the execution of precautionary measures ordered by the preliminary investigations judge, Michele Mangiafico, leader of the Civico4 movement and spokesperson for the Fari 80, 131 and 135 of Controcorrente, issues a peremptory appeal to the oversight institutions, calling for formal intervention by the Siracusa Prefecture.
Citing the recent report by the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) on irregularities in public contracts—which places Sicily and Calabria among the regions at highest corruption risk—Mangiafico warns that the “system” emerging from the investigations may represent only the tip of the iceberg.
“Urgent sums, contract splitting and tailored tenders”: the public procurement issue
According to Mangiafico, the investigation demands a 360-degree review of the operational methods adopted by the administration and technical departments in recent years.
«The Nexus investigation cannot fail to make us question whether distorted practices typical of corrupt systems also exist in our city – the civic leader emphasizes –. We are talking about the improper use of urgent sums for ordinary interventions to avoid tenders, the continuous splitting of contracts below threshold, the lack of adequate technical justifications and the systematic resort to off-balance-sheet debts to be recognized by the City Council. Not to mention the inclusion in tenders of requirements so stringent that they deliberately reduce the number of competitors».
The mayor’s intercepted conversation and the request for access to documents
Serious doubts are also raised by a passage in the custody order, which reports an intercepted conversation between the mayor of Siracusa and a councillor from his municipal executive, during which the mayor allegedly made explicit reference to certain “methods” used among municipal officials.
«On this point, we demand that the mayor clarify publicly and without delay what he meant by those words and what countermeasures he may have adopted – Mangiafico presses –. We fear that the damage inflicted on the proper functioning of public administration is deep. For this reason, we officially request that the Prefecture exercise its powers of access to documents at the Siracusa Municipality to ascertain whether there have been undue influences or connections with illegal practices, in order to safeguard the public interest».
