After three years of trial (59 hearings), the so-called “Petrolgate” trial has concluded.
The Court of Potenza convicted ENI and its managers of a series of environmental offences, ordering the confiscation of 44 million euros.
DCF Group, defended by Michele Vaira, and the other companies that transported or disposed of waste from the COVA plant in Viggiano were found not to be involved in the waste trafficking offence charged by the Potenza Anti-Mafia District Directorate, which had sought four-year prison sentences for the companies’ representatives and confiscations worth millions of euros.
Michele Vaira stated:
“We are very satisfied with the outcome, which recognised the propriety and good faith of my clients.
Pending the reasons, the operative part alone shows that the Court accepted the three fundamental points of the defence of the companies that managed the waste produced by COVA.
First, the theory of a criminal agreement between ENI’s top management and the companies to ‘agree’ on cheaper disposal methods was refuted.
Second, it was recognised that assigning the EWC (CER) code, as we firmly argued, is the exclusive responsibility of the producer, while the companies carried out the required checks with due diligence (even beyond legal requirements).
Third, it clearly emerges that disposal by the companies I represent was in any event carried out in accordance with the law and without any harm to the health of the environment or the population.
Credit must be given to the Court for having managed, within a reasonable time but without ever compressing the parties’ rights, proceedings of extraordinary complexity, and for having shown a rare capacity to listen, despite the pandemic emergency that brought the justice sector to its knees.”
Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno 12mar21
The entire trial is available in the Radio Radicale archives.
