"There has never been a scam." This is what was claimed by the lawyers Roberto Cordeiro Guerra, Alessandro Traversi and Mario Casellato, defenders of the Aleotti family, in the hearing before the investigating judge for the proceeding on the management of the pharmaceutical company Menarini. There are 13 defendants, including the children of Alberto Aleotti, owner of Menarini, Lucia and Giovanni, who are accused of money laundering and tax evasion. However, the position of Alberto Aleotti, 90, accused of fraud, was suspended due to his health conditions.
According to the prosecution, the scam is linked to the increase in the final cost of the drugs that the Menarini group would have artfully caused by setting up, mostly abroad, fictitious companies to be used to increase the steps in the sale of active ingredients and over-invoice their costs. "In 1994 – recalled Cordeiro Guerra – the average European price of medicines was established and those of Menarini were in line with or below those values". Regarding the tax charges: "There was a dispute – explained the defender – but then there was an agreement with the Revenue Agency. The process should have ended there". The agreement dates back to June 2011: the Menarini group undertook to pay approximately 330 million euros into the state coffers against a dispute by the revenue agencies of 3 billion euros.
Friday 07 June 2013 – Updated at 13.04
