Italian prosecutors ask to drop Solvay licence case against ex-minister

Solvac SA

22/08/2023 10:30

MILAN, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors have asked
for a case to be dropped against former energy transition
minister Roberto Cingolani over the alleged abuse of office in
granting a licence to a Solvay  SOLB.BR  chemical plant, a
document seen by Reuters showed.
    In the document, Rome's public prosecutor's office told
Cingolani that he was under investigation, but also that the
prosecutors had asked for the case to be dropped because of a
lack of evidence.
    The former minister and current CEO of Italy's
state-controlled defence and aerospace group Leonardo  LDOF.MI 
is entitled to submit his pleadings or ask to be heard by a
panel for ministerial offences in a Rome court. 
    The panel would then decide whether to grant the
prosecutors' request and drop the case.
    Cingolani and Leonardo declined to comment.
    On Monday two sources with direct knowledge of the matter
said Cingolani was under investigation for renewing an
environmental permit for the Rosignano Solvay plant on a Tuscan
beach in 2022.
    The investigation, which does not involve Solvay, followed a
lawsuit filed in 2022 by Giuseppe Bivona, activist co-founder of
Bluebell Capital Partners, and Elio Lannutti, a former senator
of the 5-star movement. 
    They complained the minister had extended authorisations for
the chemical plant, although a source close to the former
minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
authorisation was a new authorisation, not an extension of the
permit that would have expired in 2027.
    The source said the new licence was required by law because
a change had occurred at the Belgian chemical group's plant.
    In September 2022 Solvay said it was planning to reduce the
volume of industrial waste discharged into the sea from soda-ash
production on the Tuscan coast following pressure from
environmentalists.

 (Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Barbara Lewis)
 ((emilio.parodi@thomsonreuters.com; +39 06 8030 7744; Reuters
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