“But wasn't he innocent?” The choice of Giovanni Toti sounds like a slap in the face for the centre-right. The decision to enter into a plea bargain with the prosecutor's office for charges of abusive corruption and illicit financing of parties weighs on the electoral campaign in Liguria. What until yesterday rested on the defense of the former governor. And that will have to change today. Toti accepted a sentence of two years and one month, commuted to 1,500 hours of community service. Plus the confiscation of 84 thousand euros, taken from the coffers of his Committee. The accused recalls that pleading “does not mean being guilty”. Even if the accused's confession is implicit. This is exactly what the centre-left candidate for the Region Andrea Orlando says: “It is an implicit recognition of responsibility”.
Rehabilitation
If the court approves the agreement with the prosecutor, Toti will obtain a full rehabilitation. And the possibility of returning to politics and running for office. In the meantime, he will be able to become a journalist again but will not be able to leave Italy. The suspension from public office will be valid until the sentence has been served. The former president of the Port of Genoa Paolo Signorini is also choosing the same path. The agreement with the prosecutor provides for a sentence of three years and five months. And Aldo Spinelli could soon follow the same path. Toti explains today to Corriere della Sera that reaching an agreement “does not mean acknowledging your faults but finding yourself halfway there. In fact, in this case, much more than halfway. You have the satisfaction of seeing many of your reasons recognized.” He says he went “from Al Capone to parking his car in a no-parking zone.” And he claims that Genoa Mayor Marco Bucci was aware of his decision.
Not very happy
While the center-right allies are presented as “not very happy” with this decision. But he responds by accusing them of leaving him alone: ”I did not see a long procession accompanying me to Golgotha. In all honesty, when I turned around with the cross on my shoulders, I saw the void behind me.” But Bucci, in an interview with Republicsays the exact opposite: “I didn't know anything about the plea deal, but it's his choice. For me as a candidate, nothing changes.” The mayor on the campaign trail, despite being diagnosed with cancer – and with his wife who describes him as “unconscious” – recalls that he must undergo immunotherapy on September 27 and again at the end of October: “As for the rest, I'm free and I'm campaigning.” Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes stories depict a center-right shocked by the former governor's decision.
How the centre right took it
Among the most irritated, Matteo Salvini, who barely hid his dismay. On the right, there are questions about Toti's reasons. And there are those who define this as revenge on the part of the former governor because he found himself alone. And for not having seen as rewarded the choice of not favoring Ilaria Cavo, close to him, as a candidate against Orlando. Her list will not run in the regional elections. The candidates thought they would join Bucci's civic list.
But after what happened, there could be a change of heart. “Giovanni spent months describing himself as a martyr of justice, he pushed us to cry coup, and now he’s making a deal? Either he wanted to promote his next book or he made a mistake,” is the most heard voice. Toti’s Magic Circle responds dryly: “If the centre-right parties had really sided with him, then yes, he could have gone ahead and faced the weight of eight years of trials: but then, who is pushing him to do so? He has his whole life ahead of him to invest in something else.”
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