The #VanghePulite investigation – launched on this site on 1.1.21, with the publication and comments on the anonymous ‘poison dossier’ on the magic circle of Coldiretti and CAI SpA alias Federconsorzi 2 (1) – has been and still is the subject of numerous warnings and legal actions at the Court of Rome, in civil and criminal matters, against the writer and the publisher of GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
The Court of Rome has finally affirmed the writer’s right to report and criticize, with specific regard to the articles in which the issues of the loss of the mutualistic purposes of the Agricultural Consortia merged into CAI SpA and the extraordinary compensations recognized to the companies of Gianluca Lelli and Federico Vecchioni on capital operations and extraordinary finance.
1) Federconsorzi 2 and the ‘capitalisation’ of mutualistic purposes
Federconsortia 2 alias CAI Srl, through private appraisals commissioned by itself (rather than drawn up by experts appointed by the Court, as instead provided for joint stock companies), obtained the transfer – without paying any price – of all the assets of various agricultural consortia. And it was then transformed into a joint-stock company.
Mutual aims that agricultural consortia must pursue in favor of their members, pursuant to law 410/99 which regulates them (art. 2), have been relegated to shareholder agreements in a joint-stock company now listed on Piazza Affari.
Negative opinions and doubts have been expressed by many parties, as well as by the writer, with doubts about the compatibility between the mutualistic purposes of the Agricultural Consortia and their participation with limited decision-making powers in a joint-stock company (2,3).
2) CAI SpA and the family interests of the magic circle of Coldiretti
The sentence July 31, 2024 of the Civil Court of Rome – called to express its opinion in the lawsuit brought by Federico Vecchioni and BF SpA against the writer and the publisher of GIFT – clarifies that what is published on this site is ‘undoubted’. That is to say that, at the material time:
– ‘ the share capital of CAI Spa, which had merged four Agricultural Consortia, had been subscribed for 36% by Bonifiche Ferraresi spa, owned by Dr. Vecchioni, and was managed by a board in which the company ELFE Srl appeared as managing director, again attributable to the actor and his family;
– CEO of CAI spa was BT Srls, with Gianluca Lelli, head of the economic area of Coldiretti, as sole shareholder;
– Vincenzo Gesmundo and Ettore Prandini, respectively general secretary and president of Coldiretti, were equally involved in the operation as “the shareholder of BF SpA is Arum SpA with 4,952 million euros of share capital and headquarters in Turin (identical to ELFE Srl and EF Ss);
– second shareholder of Arum SpA is Progresso Srl (20% of the shares. Same headquarters as ELFE, EF, Arum). The sole shareholder of Progresso Srl is Lu.Mi. simple company, at the same Turin headquarters. Director of Progresso Srl as well as sole shareholder of Lu.Mi. is Lucia Liturri, wife of Vincenzo Gesmundo;
– another shareholder of Arum is Agricola Quadrifoglio Srl (5% shares), based in Brescia. Members Ettore Prandini (49%), Giovanna Prandini (49%) and Adele Treccani;
– another 5% of Arum SpA shares are in the hands of CC Holding Srl based in Milan. Majority shareholder (90%) Claudio Costamagna, together with Oliver Alessandro Costamagna (10%);
– finally, 2,499% of Arum SpA is held by ELFE Srl owned by the Vecchioni family ‘. (2)
3) Extraordinary compensation to the companies of Gianluca Lelli and Federico Vecchioni
It is also undoubted, continues the Civil Court of Rome in the aforementioned sentence, that ‘the shareholders’ meeting had approved the provision “of variable compensation commensurate with the type and value of the operations carried out by the Chief Executive Officer equal to 1,5% of the value of the capital operations carried out and for the Chief Executive Officer variable compensation equal to 1,5% of the value of all extraordinary finance operations and in particular for M&A operations”, a circumstance confirmed by the relevant minutes in the documents.
‘The thesis supported by the defendant [Dario Dongo, ed.] according to which “a number of people exploit their positions in agricultural unions to derive personal advantages that go beyond the already generous compensation linked to these positions, through their own shareholdings and/or those of family members and relatives in companies formed with the wealth of farmers – the Agrarian Consortia precisely – and with public money” [2] certainly offers a negative interpretation of the operation in question, (…) but certainly not illegitimate, as it is an expression of the freedom of expression of thought’. (4)
4) Constitutional rights of reporting and criticism
Dario Dongo, ‘on the basis of the information contained in the anonymous Dossier, had conducted checks reporting in his pieces the results of the Chamber of Commerce searches of the companies involved and the content of the minutes of the shareholders’ meetings with an undoubtedly critical slant towards the operation commented on, but making considerations based on objective data.
They cannot therefore censor themselves the considerations made by the author of the article which, although certainly scathing, fall within the scope of the art. 21 of the Constitution, which finds direct application here and constitutes a pillar of the democratic state and of the effective possibility for the people to exercise their sovereignty having been correctly informed and having been able to know the opinion of the experts in relation to each relevant sector social or public interest’.
5) Justice
The request for damages compesation of ‘at least 150.000 euros’ were rejected by the Court of Rome, which ruled that the request was unfounded and therefore condemned Federico Vecchioni and BF SpA to pay the legal costs of €5.000,00 in compensation, in addition to reimbursement flat rate (15%) general expenses, VAT and LPF (Lawyers’ Pension Fund).
The judge of the Preliminary Investigations at the Criminal Court of Rome had meanwhile closed, on 18 April 2023, the investigations against the writer following Gianluca Lelli’s complaint for defamation in the press in relation to the same articles.
A special thank you goes to our lioness of the Court of Rome, lawyer Francesca Agostini, who also boasts among her trophies the rejection of the claims of the former former Deputy Minister for Agricultural Policies, Andrea Olivero, who who was in turn ordered to reimburse legal expenses. (5)
#VanghePulite, #article21, #Égalité
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Agricultural Consortiums of Italy SpA, Federconsorzi 2? The poison dossier . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.1.21
(2) Dario Dongo. CAI SpA, Federconsorzi 2. Federico Vecchioni’s Big Binge and Coldiretti’s magic circle . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Dario Dongo. Federconsorzi 2 aka CAI SpA, a bit of clarity . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) Federico Vecchioni produced in court a registered letter by hand, without acknowledgment of receipt, in which he declared that he was waiving the aforementioned extraordinary compensation. Which however were not recognized to him as a natural person, but to his family company ELFE Srl not even mentioned in this letter
(5) Dario Dongo. Headquarters of the establishment, inapplicable decree for the Court of Rome . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
