Trieste, 9 October 2024. – As known through our investigations, there is a massive public fraud going on in Trieste, aiming at privatizing one of the two wide permanent free zones of the international Free Port of Trieste, the Northern Free Port, with unprecedented violations of the law and of the pertinent international obligations.
The fraud consists in deactivating the Northern Free Port to simulate that it has become an “old port” no longer suitable for use, and then sell to private buyers its land-based infrastructures, making them eligible to seek and obtain concessions over the nearby international free port’s maritime infrastructures.
This therefore makes it a case of significant public corruption, which gives rise to evident strategic risks, especially in view of the aggressive economic expansion carried out by state-controlled companies of the People’s Republic of China in the States of Central-Eastern Europe.
The necessary legal actions to stop these operations are led by the Agency I.P.R. F.T.T. – International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste (LINK), while the promoters of the fraud are attempting to impose a fait accompli against the law, occupying the port areas with illegitimate construction works.
The illegitimate occupation of those port areas is led by the municipal Administration of mayor Roberto Dipiazza, and it is based on the simulation that the Municipality obtained full and unconditional ownership of those areas. This simulation is then used to involve in the illegitimate works an increasing number of third parties in good faith (professionals, enterprises, sponsors, various public bodies).
For an updated analysis of the developments in that fraud, see the investigative article published, in Italian, on October 5, titled Trieste: dossier d’indagine sulle richieste di fondi europei del Comune per la frode del “porto vecchio” // Trieste: investigative dossier about the Municipality’s requests of EU funds for the fraud of the “old port” (LINK).
On September 12, 2024, the municipal Administration announced its goal of occupying the whole area of the so-called “old port” with a project financing operation to be signed with a sole partner, Gruppo COSTIM. This is once again an illegal project, and it is based on the simulation that the Municipality has full and unconditional ownership of those port areas.
This is why, on October 8, the I.P.R. F.T.T. notified the legal representatives of COSTIM and of associated firms Elmet s.r.l. and Real Estate group Percassi s.p.a. a certified email (p.e.c.) containing a Notice of Compliance with the Law in Italian and in English, officially informing them of the fraud and of the reasons why the agreement announced with the Municipality would be illegal, and thus null and void.
Given the public and international interest of the document that the I.P.R. F.T.T. notified to the three enterprises, we are publishing it in Italian (LINK) and in English (LINK).