ROME - Franco Alfieri, the Mayor of Capaccio Paestum (a town in the Campania region) and the President of the Province of Salerno, has been arrested for allegedly awarding public contracts to benefit his own family. Alfieri is a long-time collaborator with Vincenzo De Luca, the President of the Campania Region, who immortalised Alfieri with the nickname “The Fish and Chips King.”

 Alfieri is the most prominent name of the six suspects who have been arrested in connection with the crime, which has also resulted in the seizure of over 543,000 euros worth of assets. The alleged crime -  a secret agreement between Alfieri and Vittorio De Rosa, the legal presentative of Dervit S.p.a (a construction company), stating that Alfieri would award a contract worth more than 2 million euros to Dervit S.p.a, and in return De Rosa would subcontract some of the work and money to Franco Alfieri’s sister, Evilra's company - Alfieri Impianti S.r.l. All three have been arrested for alleged corruption, with Franco Alfieri’s specific charge being corruption for an act contrary to official duties.

 The other suspects allegedly involved in the crime are Alfono D’Auria, an executive at Dervit S.p.a, and two employees of the municipality of Capaccio – Carmine Greco and Andrea Campanile. Documents that were seized on Jan.30 and later examined have allegdly shown that, D’Auria, Greco, and Campanile acted on behalf of their bosses to agree the contracts. Il Fatto Quotidiano have reported that Campanile (on behalf of Alfieri) and D’Auria (on behalf of De Rosa) agreed on “what would be included in the contracts concerning future bids, timings, and costs, as well as other technical details of the work, assuming that it would Dervit S.p.a who would be awarded the contracts.”

 The contracts included work for the expansion of the region’s energy efficiency system, as well as the redevelopment of the street lighting. It has been alleged that it was Dervit S.p.a who were responsible for drafting these contracts, suggesting that they were always destined to win them over other competitors.

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