While the trial for the colossal laundering of one billion and 200 million disputed between Lucia and Giovanni Alberto Aleotti, sons of the ninety-year-old owner of the Menarini Pharmaceutical Group Alberto Aleotti, is taking its first steps, the Florence prosecutor's office continues to investigate the family's financial transactions. And in particular on the purchase, in 2012, of the 4% of the shares of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena: the maximum purchaseable limit at the time by a private individual. A stake costing 178 million and recently reduced to 1%, with a reported loss of around 70 million. The hypothesis is that the sum used to enter MPS comes from the immense deposits of black money accumulated in 30 years by the patron Alberto Aleotti with the disputed scam on the prices of the active ingredients of drugs against the National Health Service, as well as with the corruption of public officials and a vast range of tax frauds. Accusations that the family has always denied.
In December 2011, the Court of Review of Florence annulled the seizure of one billion and 120 million ordered against Alberto Aleotti. The money returned to the availability of the family and later the Cassation made the release definitive. However, the public prosecutor believes that the sum is of illicit origin and Aleotti's children have been indicted on charges of laundering it. In 2011 the family made peace with the taxman by paying 372 million. But vast reserves remained at her disposal. At the beginning of 2012, part of the sum released by the Review Court was deposited with the UBS trust company in Milan. It is from here, according to the indictment, that the 178 million used to purchase the MPS quotas come. The operation, however, was more complex, and has a preview in Switzerland, where the family obtained a loan from UBS guaranteed by the policy deposited with the Milan trust company, worth around 400 million. The Florence prosecutor's office will carry out a rogatory letter in Switzerland, which could lead to a new hypothesis of money laundering or reuse.
To purchase the stake in Mps, the Aleottis set up the company Finamonte, registered in the register of companies on 19 March 2012, a few days before the announcement of entry into the Sienese bank. Finamonte's sole shareholder is Alberto Aleotti. Now very old, sick and banned, he was a brilliant entrepreneur who transformed a small Florentine pharmaceutical company into a multinational with a turnover of over 3 billion. But, according to the accusations, he did so at the expense of the National Health Service, burdened by pharmaceutical costs ballooned out of proportion by illegal triangulations. Due to his health conditions, Aleotti cannot be tried for fraud. His children, however, yes. And the Presidency of the Council, the Ministry of Health and almost all the Regions and Local Health Authorities of Italy are party to the money laundering trial.
28 March 2014 by FRANCA SELVATICI / La Repubblica
