He donated a portrait to the Northern League senator, then was appointed to the board of a public company. The investigating judge: new investigations – Corriere.it

They ended up on the prosecutor’s table: the portrait of a Northern League senator, the same Stephanie Pucciarellithe appointment of a friend of hers (author of the painting itself) to the board of directors of a subsidiary of local public transport and a mayor, who ended up being investigated for abuse of office regarding the appointment of the latter.

But let’s start from the end of this story, which began two years ago. In recent days, the investigating judge of the court of La Spezia has ordered new investigations into the political entanglements that led to the appointment of Alessandra Barucci (the painter) on the board of directors of the Atc, a subsidiary that manages local public transport in La Spezia.

The judge, despite the request made by the prosecutor Antonio Patrono, rejected the filing, to learn more about the story. It all starts in 2021, after an exhibit by Alessandro Rosson, lawyer and at the time provincial councilor of the League, a party from which he was kicked out following his report to the prosecutor’s office.

The reason? The exhibit was intended to shed light on the political ties that pushed Alessandra Barucchi to the ATC board of directors, where there are 5 seats. The Province of La Spezia (led in double capacity by the mayor Pierluigi Peracchini, civic center right close to the Ligurian governor Giovanni Toti) entrusted one of these 5 seats (with a public tender) to Dr. Antonio Battegazzore, and then revoked within 48 hours to advantage of Mavi Ancillai, second in the ranking. This move was justified by an error: Ancillai’s email would have accidentally ended up in the spam folder opened to collect applications.

At that point, according to the detailed statement by Rosson (now head of the secretariat of Gianmarco Medusei, president of the Ligurian regional council)due to a game of internal balances in the center-right and as “compensation” for the League, it would have led to the appointment of Alessandra Barucchi, a painter who, among the various exhibitions, had also portrayed Stefania Pucciarelli, a Salvian senator and former Undersecretary of Defense in the Draghi government, in a painting with the sea and a galleon in the background.

For this seat, due to the Municipality (therefore always to Mayor Peracchini), instead of a public tender, it was a deed of appointment, of co-optation. And given the assessment of skills for this assignment, the painter friend of the Northern League was chosen. In Barucchi’s curriculum vitae, however, in addition to the eighth grade and with only three years of the teaching institute, there is only a few exhibitions and a commissioned job. Not exactly a suitable experience to sit on the board of a public transport company. And in the end, despite the prosecutor’s office having asked for it to be dismissed, the investigating judge has now asked to hear new witnesses to ascertain any pressure or threats aimed at changing the appointment.