Totò Cuffaro, former Sicilian governor under investigation for corruption, criminal association and disrupting the freedom of auctions, is said to have confided to his trusted collaborator Vito Raso (who also came under investigation), that he intended to run again for the presidency of the Region.
It emerges from the investigation documents in which the Palermo prosecutors requested house arrest for Cuffaro and 17 other people including the former minister Saverio Romano. In describing the precautions taken to “secure” his communications, the magistrates highlight that Cuffaro sometimes used his wife’s account and that of another collaborator, Antonio Abbonato.
“In adopting these measures, which have become a real method, Abbonato and Raso – say the magistrates – have always adopted a proactive behavior aimed at ensuring the former governor of the Sicily Region a sort of protective screen with respect to possible interception activities”.
Raso’s closeness to the former governor would be further proven by the fact that he “demonstrated that he knew, almost exclusively – according to the investigators – the true intentions of Cuffaro, who was interested in running for the position of president of the Sicily Region within three years”.
During an intercepted conversation in the car, Raso would have revealed to a friend that Cuffaro – we read in the investigation documents – “had planned to run as president of the Region, although he had not revealed it to anyone”.