On Dec. 20.21, the #CleanVanghePulite saga went up a notch with the publication in national newspapers of the investigation for attempted extortion against Coldiretti secretary general Vincenzo Gesmundo. (1)
Instead, the real news, which has been kept under wraps until now, is the disastrous management of the Confidi-the network of Consortia for Collective Guarantee of Agricultural Credit Funds-by Coldiretti’s magic circle.
1) ATTEMPTED EXTORTION
1.1) Rome prosecutor’s office, ongoing investigation
Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Court of Rome Antonino di Maio requested the GIP to extend the deadline for the conclusion of the investigation against Coldiretti Secretary General Vincenzo Gesmundo. The proceedings stem from a complaint filed in March 2021 by his former right-hand man Enrico Leccisi.
Enrico Leccisi had been appointed liquidator of the two Collective Guarantee Fidi cooperatives AgriConfidi Centro Nord and AgriConfidi Centro Sud–by unanimous mandate of their respective assemblies–at the suggestion of former Coldiretti president Roberto Moncalvo. In carrying out this task, the liquidator had reported serious shortfalls in the managements prior to his appointment.
1.2) Attempted extortion, the prosecution
Vincenzo Gesmundo – instead of accounting for the increased liabilities and shortfalls revealed in the liquidator’s analysis, in the order of 18 million euros – allegedly threatened him on 4.12.20 to force him out of office. Unsuccessfully, as in February 2021 the shareholders’ meeting instead confirmed its confidence in the reputable professional.
The ‘ras of Coldiretti,’ so quoted in the poison dossier, (2) therefore unleashed a counteroffensive against the liquidator. Accusing him, at the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Santa Maria Capua a Vetere, of underestimating the value of some assets. (3) ‘The best defense is offense,’ recalls the author of ‘Murphy’s Law‘ (Arthur Bloch).
1.3) Counteroffensive
Ettore Prandini, current president of Coldiretti, tried to reassure the ‘dear presidents, dear directors and area secretaries.’ Alleging, on 20.12.21, that Enrico Leccisi would be ‘removed in September of last year from Coldiretti‘ and his denunciation ‘comes as an obvious retaliation.’ The judiciary on the other hand reportedly triggered a ‘prior seizure of tens of millions just in connection with the management of Agricentro North and South‘.
‘Cleaning up has a cost, therefore, and today it weighs on the shoulders of our Secretary General; at the same time, however-and the preventive seizure is proof of this-the affair shows that those who cheat sooner or later pay and that Coldiretti and its men, Enzo Gesmundo first, keep their house clean. My personal esteem in Enzo, also stems from this ability of his to always put the interests of Coldiretti before everything else, even when this means running the risk of retaliation, the more burning the more unfounded’ (Ettore Prandini, 12/20/21).
1.4) Unspoken truths
The truths unspoken by the president of Coldiretti are others. Enrico Leccisi-a certified public accountant at the Rome Bar, auditor for the MEF, liquidating commissioner of the MISE, CTU at the Court of Rome, among many other positions-was also general manager of CAI, the Società Consortile Consorzi Agrari d’Italia, from June 2015 to December 2020.
Far from being ‘removed’ in September 2020, as Ettore Prandini asserts, Enrico Leccisi instead resigned on December 31, 2020 from CAI SpA aka Federconsorzi 2. (4) Not coincidentally, perhaps, after the resignation of CAI SpA Board Chairman Hon. Prof. Rainer Masera (former Finance Minister).
2) CONFIDIUMS, THE DISASTER OF COLDIRETTI
2.1) Confidi, the CreditAgri Italy operation.
In 2011, Coldiretti had decided to reorganize the activities of its many Collective Credit Guarantee Consortia, operating throughout the country, by merging them into a single joint-stock cooperative company, CreditAgri Italia S.C.p.A.
‘Creditagri Italia is a financial intermediary that operates throughout the country. Offers assistance and advice on credit and corporate finance. By issuing guarantees in favor of the banking system, it supports and facilitates access to credit for member companies.
All national banking institutions and more than 200 local banks are part of Creditagri Italia’s network to best meet the business finance needs of: Agricultural Enterprises, Cooperatives, Corporations, Professionals‘. (CreditAgri Italia SCpA, bylaws, corporate purpose).
2.2) CreditAgri Italy, the management disaster.
Legal representative of CreditAgri Italia S.C.p.A. was Coldiretti Secretary General Vincenzo Gesmundo, who took over as president on 11.7.13. And after the first term, effective 5/26/15, that of Board member for the following three fiscal years.
During the period 2013-2018 , the management of Creditagri Italy, under the direct leadership of Vincenzo Gesmundo, was literally disastrous. With operating losses reaching € 19.95 million over the five-year period, as shown in financial statements published at the Rome Companies Register.
2.3) First Bank of Italy inspection.
The disastrous economic and asset management of CreditAgri Italia S.C.p.A.-attributable to directives inspired by ‘union consensus’-was the cause of an initial Bank of Italy inspection. Which, in an inspection report 18.6.18 (prot. 19556), expressed a very unfavorable opinion on the company’s economic, asset and organizational situation. And so:
– prescribed immediate capital replenishment actions,
– stigmatized the systematic absence at formal meetings of Councilor Vincenzo Gesmundo,
– reported the deficiency in the controls of the board of auditors,
– pointed out the company’s poor profitability,
– noted the lack of risk detection, in the administrative accounting system,
– reported the misclassification of non-performing loans,
– recommended the divestment of investments in risky government bonds,
– emphasized liquidity risk.
2.4) Liquidity, silent alarm
The default rate of the bonds lent by CrediAgri Italia to farmers was more than 20 percent of the bonds it borrowed from third parties (€43 million out of a total of €212 million). Where a default rate of more than 6 percent is already in itself considered an indication of the intermediary’s decolition.
Bank of Italy, as the Supervisory Authority, also noted the deterioration of collateral and erosion of capital, wiped out by losses as early as 2018. He therefore called for its reconstitution, sounding a silent alarm. Velvet gloves for those who boast of ‘acting on the boundaries of others’ sovereignty‘ and having ‘the right/duty to replace institutions.’ (5)
2.5) Second Bank of Italy inspection.
In 2019 – noting the failure to achieve the established economic and capital targets – Bank of Italy carried out a second inspection at CrediAgri Italia SCpA. The inspection report 22.2.19 (Prot. 243409) reports even more serious deficiencies than those previously noted:
– records significant deviations from budget forecasts,
– detects losses well in excess of those planned,
– notes that the 2018 recapitalization, in the amount of € 2 million, is already partly absorbed by the higher economic losses recorded at the end of the year,
– finds the membership of some service companies under Coldiretti,
– records difficulties inherent in the company’s business model,
– assesses the lack of effectiveness of the strategic planning process, which has long been oriented toward setting specific goals, then systematically disregarded,
– stigmatizes the absence of broader assessments of strategic positioning,
– warns of negative impacts on compliance with minimum prudential requirements,
– recommends that a new capital plan be prepared by March for the strengthening of equity needed to maintain an adequate level of capitalization.
2.6) CreditAgri Italy, new appointments
The Bank of Italy’s Financial Intermediaries Supervision Office, after the notification of the above-mentioned inspection reports, summoned Vincenzo Gesmundo and the other directors of CreditAgri Italia S.C.p.A. At the end of the meeting came a request for a strong discontinuity in the composition of the company’s executive body, which was deemed unsatisfactory and inadequate.
Consequently, on 5/19/19, the CreditAgri Italia shareholders’ meeting defenestrated Vincenzo Gesmundo and the other directors. To appoint a new BOD, composed as follows:
– Roberto Moncalvo, president (as well as legal representative of Coldiretti),
– Raffaele Grandolini (at the same time attorney as well as head of Administration and General Affairs of Coldiretti), (6)
– Stefania Marongiu (Coldiretti Planning and Control Manager), (7)
– Enrico Leccisi (certified public accountant and auditor).
2.7) Auditors and conflicts of interest
Instead, the mayors of CreditAgri Italia S.C.p.A. -in the classic style of Coldiretti’s magic circle of conflicts of interest-were:
– Antonio Cepparulo, former mayor of Coldiretti, (6)
– Fabio Marella, a collaborator in Coldiretti’s administrative offices, under the direct hierarchical control of Raffaele Grandolini, (6)
– Benedetta Ficco, an employee of Coldiretti’s administrative offices.
2.8) Escape from the Single Register of Financial Intermediaries.
The new directors and auditors of CreditAgri Italia have received a priority order from Coldiretti, get out of the Single Register of Financial Intermediaries immediately. And thus evade Bank of Italy ‘prudential supervision’ in the face of manifest inability to replenish minimum capital requirements.
The exit from the Single Register of Financial Intermediaries was to be accomplished through in three stages:
A) spin-off of CreditAgri Italia S.C.p.A. into Agri Centro Nord S.C.p.A. and Agri Centro Sud S.C.p.A,
B) de-listing from the Single Register of Financial Intermediaries,
C) liquidation and deletion of the companies (no longer supervised) Agri Centro Nord S.C.p.A. and Agri Centro Sud S.C.p.A. from the Register of Companies
2.9) North Central Agri, South Central Agri.
The demerger ‘by decohesion’ of CreditAgri Italia into Agri Centro Nord and Agri Centro Sud (8) made it possible to prevent the otherwise inevitable receivership for loss of supervisory capital, as already ascertained in the aforementioned inspection reports, and the related appointment of a liquidator by the Supervisory Authority.
Coldiretti also asked the new administrators to:
– refrain from making public news that could have caused image damage related to the failure of the Confidi. Thus, the only procedure that allowed for confidentiality, dissolution without liquidation, was followed,
– refrain from bringing liability actions against previous directors, primarily against former board chairman Vincenzo Gesmundo.
3) FROM CONFIDI DISASTER TO ATTEMPTED EXTORTION
Enrico Leccisi-as soon as he was appointed liquidator of Agri Centro Nord S.C.p.A. and Agri Centro Sud S.C.p.A.-checked the financial and economic situation bequeathed by the previous directors. In addition to the losses-in the order of €19.95 million-the liquidator noted far greater shortfalls and liabilities than those published in the Gesmundo management’s financial statements.
The Bank of Italy itself, in the minutes referred to above, had attributed to that management ‘the deficiency in the controls of the Board of Statutory Auditors, (…) the deficiency in the administrative accounting system of risk detection, (…) the incorrect classification of non-performing loans’. But the chief of chiefs would not accept that ‘his’ man could raise his head, and so the complaint mentioned at the beginning of this article was triggered.
#CleanSpades
The Italian judiciary has just begun to chip away at the power system of Coldiretti’s magic circle. A few months ago, combined, Coldiretti Lombardia President Paolo Voltini was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison for aggravated extortion against two employees. (9)
The financial management of this system in turn merits investigations into multimillion-dollar tax evasion and/or fraud, from the real estate operations of CAI Real Estate Srl to the characteristic modus operandi of Campagna Amica (10.11). Other and not a few events worthy of investigation have been mentioned on this site, under #CleanSpades.
Freedom of the press
Four lawsuits and a civil action for compensation against the writer-in 2021 alone-for reporting true news and expressing opinions about Coldiretti’s magic circle-will be taken all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, if necessary.
‘Journalism is spreading what someone does not want to be known, the rest is propaganda‘ (Horacio Verbitsky).
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Giuseppe Scarpa. Coldiretti blizzard, secretary general investigated. The charge: attempted extortion. The Messenger, 12/20/21
(2) Dario Dongo. Consorzi Agrari d’Italia SpA, Federconsorzi 2? The Poison Dossier. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.1.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/consorzi-agrari-d-italia-spa-federconsorzi-2-il-dossier-dei-veleni
(3) Finance strike: 48 million seized. “They guaranteed loans to Coldiretti members.” Caserta news. 19.10.21, https://bit.ly/3FlqTHh
(4) Cristian Lamorte. Agricultural Consortium of Siena, Enrico Leccisi former Dg Cai: “If it joins it will stop operating in the territory.” Agriculture. 12/14/21, https://www.agricultura.it/2021/12/14/consorzio-agrario-di-siena-enrico-leccisi-ex-dg-cai-se-aderisce-smettera-di-operare-sul-territorio/
(5) See paragraph ‘A tragic reality?‘ in the previous article.
(6) Some conflicts of interest of Raffaele Grandolini, Antonio Cepparulo and Fabio Marella were described in the previous article
(7) Stefania Marongiu is, among other things, mayor of Filiera Agricola Italiana (FAI) S.p.A. and a partner in AgriRevi S.p.A., also in the Coldiretti galaxy. See previous article
(8) “New CreditAgri” is born. Become AgriConfidi North Central and AgriConfidi South Central. Pltv.co.uk. 7/13/19, https://www.pltv.it/news/consulenza_creditizia/nasce-la-nuova-creditagri-diventa-agriconfidi-centro-nord-e-agriconfidi-centro-sud
(9) Sentenced for extortion president of Coldiretti Lombardia. Ansa. 4.11.21, https://bit.ly/3FfbkAK
(10) Dario Dongo. Federconsorzi 2, CAI Real Estate Srl. Million-dollar tax evasion or fraud? #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 7.7.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/federconsorzi-2-cai-real-estate-srl-evasione-o-frode-fiscale-milionaria-vanghepulite
(11) Dario Dongo. Malfeasance against farmers and tax evasion, Campagna Amica continues. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 10.9.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/illeciti-a-danno-degli-agricoltori-ed-evasioni-fiscali-campagna-amica-prosegue
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
