The hearing did not last long. Time for a defense exception on the “indeterminacy of the charge”, a few other technical passages, but no testimony from the “great accuser” Paolo Todaro. And in the future there will be a hearing dedicated to the trial every Thursday of the month, if necessary there will be two.
This morning, the “refund case” for the research projects of the Chibiofaram department of the university opened in court, accusing the former rector of the University of Messina Salvatore Cuzzocrea, who was present in the courtroom, with charges of embezzlement.
At the beginning, the lawyer Bruno Andò, who together with his colleague Elena Florio assisted the former rector in the courtroom, raised the problem of a charge which in his opinion would be unclear, and on this issue the panel chaired by judge Rita Sergi reserved its decision. For her part, prosecutor Roberta La Speme asked for the exception to be rejected and pointed out that the same question had been raised in the preliminary hearing and the preliminary hearing judge rejected it, then she said that there is an explanatory statement drawn up by the Financial Police which explains everything in detail. And he also asked for speed because there is a defendant with an ongoing disqualification measure that expires in April 2027, which is obviously Cuzzocrea.
There are around a hundred texts to be heard cited by the Prosecutor’s Office, defense and civil parties, this has also been taken stock of. The testimony of the Policlinico official and trade unionist Paolo Todaro, theoretically scheduled for today, was then postponed. We will talk about it again on November 18th. On that date the court will make known the decision on the defense objection.
