Italian-style justice
The Telecom Italia-Fastweb case, in which Rome prosecutors allege company insiders aided and abetted a big tax scam that apparently benefited the Calabrian mafia and its business associates, reaches a turning point in Rome tomorrow with a crucial supreme court hearing.
The affair has sparked a series of inquiries whose fall-out has been felt well beyond the people and companies initially accused. Indeed, fevered Italian media speculation - and it has only been that to date - has fanned theories that this could be the start of a new mega-scandal.
The problem is that so far the case has produced much more heat than light while at the same time dragging the reputations of some leading business figures through the mud. Take for example Silvio Scaglia, the telecoms entrepreneur and founder of Fastweb. One of Italy's richest men, Mr Scaglia has spent the past four months in jail or under house arrest without any charges being brought.
Prosecutors accused Mr Scaglia of tax evasion and false invoicing. Yet after three years of investigations and another four months poring over his accounts with Mr Scaglia behind bars, they have yet to produce hard evidence.
Mr Scaglia is not the only executive to be imprisoned without charge. In their initial enthusiasm, prosecutors carried out a broad sweep and pulled in a wide range of suspects, from the "fixers" allegedly linked with organised crime through to employees of Telecom Italia and Fastweb and their bosses. And while only the former are being investigated for alleged mafia links and money-laundering, prosecutors and the lower court have effectively tarred everyone with the same brush in what looks like an indiscriminate use of accusation and preventive custody.
Mr Scaglia - who in February returned voluntarily to Italy from his London home for questioning - is undoubtedly the prosecution's star detainee.
The seriousness of the alleged crimes is not in question. However, an Italian legal system that allows citizens to be locked up without trial for months without any hard evidence is. Having run into a brick wall in the lower courts, Mr Scaglia's lawyers have asked Rome's appeal court for a more considered view, less on the substance of case and more on the merit of incarcerating individuals who with their basic right to liberty restored would pose little or no threat to society or the case.
Many suspect that even the originally gung-ho prosecutors might actually appreciate it if the higher court were to reset the dial on the process. Their credibility is under pressure as things stand and a higher court decision would enable them to save face while still keeping the case alive. It would also allow them time to turn up new evidence if it exists, or quietly wind down the process if it does not. Meanwhile they could concentrate on the more serious mafia-related files that appear to constitute the real substance of the case.
The prosecution's thesis that Mr Scaglia "could not have not known" about the VAT scam in his former role as Fastweb chairman is hardly the strongest of cases. Tomorrow, the appeal court has the opportunity to restore faith in the fairness of Italy's legal system by returning to a principle that you are innocent until proved guilty.