The Taranto Prosecutor's Office has requested house arrest for Lucia Morselli, former managing director of Acciaierie d'Italia, the former Ilva. House arrest has also been requested for the former director of the plant Alessandro Labile and for Francesco Astorri, head of the Ispra inspection unit. The requests came as part of an investigation which hypothesizes crimes ranging from environmental disasters to fraud on CO2 quotas, to criminal association and corruption. The Taranto investigation, in particular, covers the 2019-2024 management: it concerns the alleged pollution caused by the emissions of the plant in that period and the hypothesized irregularities in the management of carbon dioxide emissions and ETS quotas. In total, disqualification measures were requested for around ten people, including managers and managers. The precautionary requests will have to be evaluated by the investigating judge Francesco Maccagnano, who has arranged for the preventive interrogation of Morselli, Labile and Astorri for November 3rd. Among the 28 suspects there are also Aditya Mittal, as CEO of ArcelorMittal, and Franco Bernabè, former president of the Board of Directors of Acciarie d'Italia. According to the accusation, the Siderurgico's management was oriented towards maximizing profits to the detriment of the environment. Among the complaints emerge omissions in maintenance and the alleged promise of a managerial position to Astorri to soften Aia controls.
The request for house arrest
The investigation concerns the management of the steel plant from 2019 to 2024. The Taranto Prosecutor's Office has requested house arrest for Lucia Morselli, former president of the board of directors of Acciaierie d'Italia (the former Ilva). House arrest has also been requested for Alessandro Labile, former director of the steel plant, and for Francesco Astorri, Ispra manager of the section for the evaluation and controls of plants of national strategic interest. The precautionary requests will now have to be evaluated by the investigating judge. "I am convinced of the absolute innocence of my client, who has always acted in compliance with all the rules", said the lawyer Giuseppe Iannaccone, Morselli's lawyer. "I am also convinced that I can clarify the transparency and correctness of his actions", he added.
The investigation
The investigation is conducted by prosecutors Mariano Buccoliero, Francesco Ciardo, who is now serving at the Lecce Prosecutor's Office, and Francesco Sansobrino. In total, 28 people and five companies are under investigation. According to the prosecution's hypothesis, the management of the plant was oriented towards maximizing profits and production to the detriment of environmental protection. Also according to the accusatory approach, eight people are charged with criminal conspiracy aimed at committing crimes against the environment, public safety and public administration. Among the eight accused of association crime there is also Aditya Mittal, in his capacity as CEO of ArcelorMittal. Franco Bernabè, former president of the board of directors of Acciarie d'Italia, responds to the hypothesis of fraud in relation to the C02 quotas.
Preventive interrogation on November 3
The suspects were notified of the preventive interrogation before the judge for preliminary investigations, called to evaluate the precautionary requests made by the Prosecutor's Office. In addition to the three suspects for whom house arrest was requested - therefore the former CEO Lucia Morselli, the former director of the Taranto plant Alessandro Labile and the Ispra manager Francesco Astorri - on 3 November the ten recipients of the requests for interdictory measures will also have to appear before the investigating judge Francesco Maccagnano for preventive questioning.
The accusations against Lucia Morselli
Lucia Morselli is the former CEO of Acciaierie d'Italia. In March 2024, she was served with a notice of extension of the investigations, which arose after a complaint about benzene peaks that had been recorded in the plant. A few months later, in the following July, there were searches and seizures for the alleged fraud against the State on Co2 quotas and then the warnings to the former manager and other managers, consultants and employees for the hypothesis of criminal association aimed at pollution, environmental disaster and fraud against the State. The prosecutor contested the poor maintenance of the plants which would have caused harmful emissions for workers and citizens. Morselli is also involved in an investigation into fraudulent bankruptcy initiated by the Milan Prosecutor's Office after a report by the extraordinary commissioners of the former Ilva.
AdI starts collective dismissal procedure for 80% of managers
Meanwhile, Acciaierie d'Italia in extraordinary administration has started the collective dismissal procedure for 40 of the 51 managers with permanent contracts, out of a total workforce of 73 units. This is what the extraordinary commissioners communicated in the letter of 23 October addressed to Federmanager and the union representatives. The managers involved in the procedure, provided for by law 223 of 1991 (which provides for a maximum number of redundancies equal to 80%), are distributed as follows: 31 work in Taranto, 16 in Milan, two in Genoa and two in Novi Ligure. The commissioners specify "that, in line with the new organizational model, the adaptation process will also be started with reference to managers with fixed-term contracts, even if not affected by this procedure".
