EU prosecutors request dropping of Genoa dam case against Italian Webuild CEO

By ‌Emilio Parodi

MILAN, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) has ‍requested ‌the dropping of a case against Webuild CEO Pietro Salini and ⁠three other people over ‌alleged misappropriation of public funds, judicial documents showed on Thursday.

The investigation centred on a contract, estimated to be worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion), awarded ⁠to build a dam off the harbour of the northwestern Italian city of ​Genoa to a consortium led by Webuild, with ‌900 million euros of the ⁠cost coming from European and national public funds.

Both the request for dismissal and the fact that Salini was among those ​investigated had not previously been reported.

In the document, reviewed by Reuters, the delegated European prosecutor at the EPPO's Turin office asked the Genoa court to drop the case, which had ​alleged offences ‍ranging from abuse of office, ​bid rigging, irregularities in the selection procedure, falsification, and misappropriation of public funds.

Alongside Salini, the EPPO also sought to clear Paolo Emilio Signorini, former head of Genoa's port authority, Alberto Colosio, Webuild's tender office manager, and Jan Albert Vandenbroeck, chairman of dredging ⁠firm Sidra and a member of the consortium, which also includes Fincosit and a Fincantieri unit.

A ​Genoa judge will now decide whether to accept the request by the EPPO.

Webuild, Italy's largest construction group, began construction of the dam in June 2023 through the ‌PerGenova Breakwater consortium.

Webuild, Sidra and Signorini's lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

($1 = 0.8532 euros)

(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Keith Weir)