The prosecutor who investigated Salvini near the Rome prosecutor’s office
As head of the Palermo prosecutor’s office he was alongside his prosecutors in one of the most spotlighted trials, the one against the former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for the Open Arms case. And now Francesco Lo Voi, in the Sicilian capital since 2014, is about to make the big leap: he will in fact, less than sensational twists, govern the most important office in Italy, the Rome prosecutor’s office. In fact, next Wednesday, the last session before Christmas, the plenum of the CSM will vote on the proposals of the Fifth Commission for the proposal of Michele Prestipino, who was definitively wiped out a few days by the Council of State. And Lo Voi starts as a favorite, indeed as an overfavorite, since last November 18 in the Commission he obtained 4 votes, those of the president, Antonio d’Amato, of the Independent Magistracy, of the layman of Forza Italia Alessio Lanzi and of the robed Alessandra Dal Moro (Area) and Michele Ciambellini (Unicost). Nothing to do for the other competitor, the attorney general of Florence Marcello Viola, who had only one preference, that of the councilor of Autonomy & Independence Sebastiano Ardita.
Matteo Salvini, yesterday in Palermo at a conference in view of today’s hearing in the trial that sees him accused of kidnapping, does not give up, even if he does not fail to underline the fact that his accuser is presented at the head of the Prosecutor’s Office most important in Italy. «The prosecutor Lo Voi – he says – who is accused in the courtroom in Palermo in the Open Arms trial, was the chief prosecutor of Rome but certainly there is no deserved professional path. Those who say the opposite lie knowing they are lying ».
Ironic, someone suspects. But the fact is that the clash over the Rome prosecutor’s office and the appointment in 2020 of Michele Prestipino in place of Giuseppe Pignatone dates back to before the trial against Salvini. And it takes place in the midst of the storm that hit the judiciary on the “system” unveiled by the former president of the ANM Luca Palamara. Viola, who was already competing for the post in 2020, had been sidelined because her name had appeared in the famous wiretapping of the Champagne Hotel. And despite not having had any contact with Palamara, he had been discarded in favor of Prestipino. It is from here that the jumble of appeals broke out against the appointment of Prestipino: from Viola himself, and precisely from Lo Voi, who was also among the 2020 competitors. A story that between appeals and counter-claims ended a few days ago , with the ruling of the Council of State which definitively canceled the appointment of Prestipino in Rome.
Now Lo Voi is in pole position. In line with the tradition that sees a former Palermo prosecutor at the helm of the Rome prosecutor’s office: Giuseppe Pignatone was, Prestipino was, and Lo Voi is, directly from the Sicilian capital.