NAPLES – Attorney Alfredo Romeo has been released from custody as the probe concerning Consip (the corporation in charge of the purchase of goods and government service contracts) for the largest European public facility management contract worth 2.7 billion Euros becomes more convoluted, judicial sources say.

 After having spent four months behind bars and over one month under house arrest confined to his childhood home in the province of Caserta, authorities released the Neapolitan entrepreneur from detention last week.

 Allowed to remove the electronic bracelet permanently attached to his wrist for over 30 days, the Facility Service Management owner raced to his metropolitan home and sought the comfort of loved ones, sources said.

 According to the Rome re-examination court, judges decided to annul arrest for the Romeo Gestioni owner imprisoned on March 1 for alleged corruption, acknowledging the thesis brought on by Romeo’s lawyers in June. With doubts as to the existence of organized crime in what has been coined by some as a “Romeo system,” the Supreme Court had motioned the re-examination court to reanalyze the connection between criminal conduct attributed to Romeo and the “particularly invasive” wire taps used to show Romeo was involved in mafia-like crime.

 “A house of cards without any proof or legal base has been built, literally manipulating and falsifying investigation material in order to prove a given theory,” comments Romeo’s attorneys off the cuff, prior to reading the court motivations due out next month.

 While the Parthenope tycoon still faces charges for corruption of public administration officer Marco Gasparri, who swears he was bribed with 100 thousand Euros to help Romeo Gestioni win lots in the biggest continental management contract known to date, Romeo is free until his October court date.  

 As the plot thickens with the court backtrack, big names are still under investigation: Cabinet undersecretary Sports Luca Lotti is suspected of revealing office secrets by having told Consip chief Luigi Marroni about the investigation); former Consip Chief Executive Officer Luigi Marroni is suspected of having cleared the office of wire taps after being mysteriously tipped-off) and Tiziano Renzi-father of former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi remains under investigation for illicit peddling of influence of public contracts (along with long time family friend Carlo Russo). With other authorities leading the probe equally suspected of tampering with evidence, innocent bystanders appear caught in a tourbillion where the whole truth behind the gathered evidence still seems far from surfacing.

 “Fortunately, the Supreme Court does not have the preconceptions prevalent in some courts over a successful southern businessman who has developed the territory and created jobs for thousands of citizens,” states the entrepreneur about the overturned evaluation that had described him as a criminal that had used corruptive methods for 25 years.

 While Romeo publically denies any secret supper with the former Prime Minister’s father and states he did not bribe Consip official Marco Gasparri to help swing the European facility management contract his way, he further questions why the un-influential state official would accuse him in the first place. The southern Italian businessman even wonders if Gasparri was sent by foreign business competitors with vested interests. 

 As Romeo goes public for the first time since his arrest and gives his version of the facts already in the hands of authorities, two of the key figures in the investigation swiftly push it back.

 “Now, Mr. Romeo has changed his version,” Alfredo Mazzei is quick to rebuttal in a statement to La Repubblica. “He clearly told me he had dined with Tiziano Renzi. I’m happy when someone is released from custody, but maybe he expressed himself badly. I’m certain to have been told by him that Carlo Russo had set up a dinner and that Mr. Romeo had met with Matteo Renzi’s father,” he asserts over the phone from Peru.

 Marco Gasparri, who turned himself in claiming he had received a 100 thousand Euro bribe from Romeo, equally wasted no time in commenting on the magnate’s recent remarks. “ It was me who has supposedly told lies?” he says rhetorically through his lawyer Alessandro Diddi. “I’m a supposed agent sent by foreign enemies to destroy him? That makes me smile, but those are serious accusations that he will have to answer to,” asserts the former public administration manager.

 Round two begins Oct. 19 with the first hearing of a case that has taken on immense proportions, involving high government officials. In the meantime, the preliminary round that has cost the Neapolitan businessman months of jail time and house arrest, appears to have been won by him. 

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