We are again talking before the judge about the residence of Marella Caracciolo, widow of Gianni Agnelli, a fundamental question to establish the validity of the will that declares the three grandchildren John, Ginevra and Lapo Elkann as heirs. This time the trial was in Switzerland, in the city of Thun. On one side are present the three sisters – John and Ginevra – on the other, as her companions, once again their mother Margherita, who questions the legitimacy of Marella’s provisions. “It’s just a painful and sad story,” Margherita said before heading to court, as reported by Milano Finanza.
Clash
This conflict has been going on for 18 years. Margherita, by a settlement agreement signed in 2004, had renounced her maternal inheritance, but claimed that at that time some of her assets had been hidden from her. It was he, at the end of 2023, who filed a complaint with the Turin prosecutor’s office that led to the opening of an investigation that ended, for John Elkann, with a request for probation, with a favorable opinion from the prosecutor’s office, and with a payment of 183 million euros to the Revenue Agency.
Yesterday’s hearing concerned the file, known as “Thun 2”, opened years ago at Elkann’s initiative. The head of the court, Amelie Meyes Schirch, must determine whether jurisdiction of civil cases regarding inheritance matters rests with Turin judges, or whether Swiss jurisdiction applies. Therefore, the issue does not involve the validity of wills and agreements. The initial issue was the actual residence of Marella Agnelli, who died in 2019. The woman apparently lived in Launen, near Gstaad, but according to the Turin prosecutor’s office, she lived mostly in Italy. Piedmont investigation documents obtained by Swiss judge.
CALCULATION
Italian law stipulates that a residence permit in the country will become effective after at least six months and one day have passed there. In fact, according to Swiss law, to ensure the effectiveness of a residence, one should not use the counting of days, but rather the concept of “center of interest”. The Elkan family always stated that the center of Marella’s interests was in Switzerland. In recent days, the woman’s friends and collaborators have been interviewed in Thun. But yesterday, it was his nephew’s turn. In Switzerland there is also another process: “Thun 1”, which concerns the validity of wills and inheritance agreements, and is suspended pending a decision from the Geneva court. Margherita requested the annulment of her mother’s Swiss will, claiming that the Swiss residence was fictitious, and also asked to return to being the legal heir to the Agnelli estate, including the Dicembre company, currently headed by her son John. Marella’s will was drawn up on 11 August 2011 before Swiss notary Urs von Grünigen. There were two subsequent modifications: 14 August 2012 and 22 August 2014. According to the Turin prosecutor, the investigation carried out by Fiamme Gialle revealed that the residence of the lawyer’s widow was fake and built with “art and deception”. During the search, investigators discovered email exchanges regarding inheritance matters between John Elkann, his collaborator in Turin and a Swiss business lawyer and university professor, Peter Hafter. The latter, according to prosecutors, will play an “advisory” role in crafting justifications regarding residency. For example, he would recommend including the phrase in the document: “Switzerland has been the center of my activities for more than 40 years.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
