third cancellation of PC and telephone confiscation – Il Tempo

The Brescia Review Court has overturned for the third time in a month the decision to confiscate PCs and IT equipment against the former deputy prosecutor of Pavia, Mario Venditti, in the corruption investigation in the judicial documents on the dismissal of Andrea Sempio in 2017 from the Garlasco crime, a case in which the 37-year-old’s father, Giuseppe Sempio, was being investigated as a suspected corruptor with “20-30 thousand euros”. The liberty judge accepted the appeal of lawyer Domenico Aiello against the confiscation decision ordered by prosecutor Claudia Moregola and Brescia Prosecutor Francesco Prete on October 24.

On 17 October the Review had ordered the return of 3 phones, 2 PCs, 2 iPads, 2 hard disks and 2 USB sticks belonging to the retired judge which had been confiscated during a search on 26 September. In this case the judge confiscated 2 diary papers. Subsequently, the second seizure was canceled – however this did not concern the investigation into Garlasco but into the alleged ‘Pavia system’. The Pagliuca-Azzi-Cavalleri college annulled the confiscation also relating to former carabinieri Silvio Sapone and Giuseppe Spoto (not under investigation) from the Venditti judicial police team, accepting the appeal of the lawyers Massimo Marmonti and Marco Casali. The court ordered the “return” of “all assets”, including “extrapolated data” from IT devices, and has delegated Gico of the Brescia financial police to carry out the order. According to Venditti, the devices will remain in custody after Aiello’s lawyers asked investigative judge Brescia to order the telephone and PC evidence to be cross-examined, using keywords and limiting the scope of the search. An analysis that the Brescia Prosecutor’s Office wants to carry out without mentioning keywords and starting from 2014 onwards, the year the former prosecutor took office in Pavia, three years before the episode of alleged corruption with the Sempio family.

Meanwhile, former carabiniere Sapone was also revealed to have been questioned at the prosecutor’s office in Brescia as a witness in an investigation into alleged corruption. Investigators suspect that both Sapone and his former colleague Spoto were involved in several alleged “anomalies” – such as reports of wiretapping or hasty phone contacts with Sempio – that could have influenced the dismissal application signed by former prosecutors Venditti and Giulia Pezzino and later accepted by investigating judge Fabio Lambertucci. Last week, Andrea Sempio’s former lawyer was questioned, again as a witness, in particular Massimo Lovati who confirmed that he had taken about 15 thousand euros illegally and reiterated that the other money was paid by Sempio’s family for defense costs. Even Giuseppe Sempio, who was investigated as a Venditi briber and tried last September 26 as a witness, always reported that he had brought cash to the lawyers and that the wiretap stating that he had to “pay the gentlemen there” referred to the group of lawyers. Another hearing is also expected.