The two lawyers from the Calabrian capital accused of extortion and arrested in flagrante delicto on Thursday afternoon responded to the guarantee interrogation before the investigating judge of Catanzaro Chiara Esposito, rejecting the accusations.
Both Pierpaolo Greco, 48 years old, bankruptcy trustee of the Betania foundation of Catanzaro, defended by the lawyer Francesco Iacopino, and Pasquale Barbieri (66), defended by the lawyer Valerio Murgano, provided their version of the facts. They had had the opportunity to speak with the magistrate in charge of the investigations immediately after the arrest by the Financial Police which led Greco to prison and Barbieri to house arrest.
The crime complained of, the reconstruction of the facts
According to an initial reconstruction of the facts, the two suspects are accused of illicitly requesting the sum of 50 thousand euros from the president of the Palermo company Karol spa, the lawyer Marco Zummo, to “fluidize” an agreement that would allow Karol to continue managing the assets of Betania for which an agreement already existed and was being renegotiated following the bankruptcy of the Catanzaro foundation. In particular, according to the accusation, Barbieri would have made the proposal to Zummo on behalf of Greco. The investigations began when Zummo reported the fact to the Catanzaro Financial Police who monitored the movements of the two lawyers. The investigators would have monitored Barbieri while he received a first tranche of 25 thousand euros. The arrest, however, occurred when Barbieri handed over part of the money, 10 thousand euros, to Greco. Finally, the remaining sum of 15 thousand euros was found in the lawyer Barbieri’s office. The investigating judge reserved 48 hours to evaluate the accusatory and defense hypotheses and decide on validation and any measures.
The investigating judge ordered both of them to be placed under house arrest
The investigating judge of Catanzaro Chiara Esposito has ordered the release of the lawyer Pierpaolo Greco by placing him under house arrest, the same measure adopted for the lawyer Pasquale Barbieri – who was already subjected to the same measure – both arrested in flagrante delicto last Thursday by the Financial Police for extortion. The validation hearing thus ended during which the two lawyers responded to the investigating judge. Greco, in particular, proclaimed his innocence, saying he was extraneous to the disputed facts. (HANDLE).