Miraviglia scandal

Scandalo miraviglia

Etruria
Started	3 April 2016
Judges	Carmine della Chiesa Giorgio Urbano Cassini Pierligui Versace

The Miraviglia scandal (Vespasian: Scandalo miraviglia) was a political corruption scandal and judicial investigation that took place in Etruria from 2016 to 2018, resulting directly in the collapse of the Etrurian Federalist Party-led coalition government and indirectly, the rejection of EC membership in the 2016 referendum and the victory of the far-right Tribune Movement in the August 2016 federal election. The investigation led to the arrests of hundreds of politicians, civil servants and judiciary officers, including former President Emiliano Reali, former Deputy President Andrea Salvini.

The investigation discovered the Reali government (2011-2016) had used bribes to secure the agreeing opinion of four Constitutional Court judges over the government's introduction of Eminent domain powers which were used to purchase land for development or construction projects that did not actually exist, these were funded by federal government contracts. The money awarded for these fake projects was distributed through a series of front companies owned by EFP donors and then transferred to politicians, civil servants and others involved in the scheme. According to the investigation close to €250 million (₣2.94 billion in 2022) of tax-payers money was lost to the scheme.

The scandal has been described as one of the "most seismic events" in modern Etrurian history and one of the most consequential owing to its direct and indirect results and effects on Etrurian politics, culture and society. Some analysts claim the scandal had decimated the Etrurian "love affair" with Sotirian democracy and mainstream parties in general, while it is universal accepted among commentators that the scandal provided the fertile environment and atmosphere for the election of the first far-right government since the Solarian War.

Name

The term Miraviglia directly translates into Vespasian as wonder, astonishment, amazement, surprise and was drawn exclusively from one of the fake projects, dubbed "Piazza Miraviglia" (lit. Wonder Place), a supposed federally funded theme park in the state of Carvagna. The term was introduced during the earliest days of the scandal by the Telegrafo Solariano, which wrote in an editorial, "of all the fake projects produced to steal money from the people, Piazza Miraviglia is truly the most apt, for are not we all in utter wonder of their criminality and gangsterism?"

Arrest of Gherado Vitelli

Gherado Vitelli, a freelance journalist sparked the investigation after he was arrested for trespassing on federal land. The land would later be revealed to be one of many fake projects set up to launder vast sums of money.

Miraviglia began on 3 April 2016 when Gherado Vitelli, a freelance journalist was arrested for trespassing on federal property, which would later be revealed the site of a fake wind farm project. During his interview with the Veratian Police Service he revealed that he had spent the past two years investigation a scheme involving false infrastructure projects used to launder money for politicians, lobbyists, civil servants and business people. In exchange for being let-off with a caution, he passed all of his evidence to the Public Prosecutor Office's of Veratia. Vitelli was also prohibited by the PPO from releasing his evidence or sharing his knowledge with the media.

Investigation

Augusto Carafa, the Public Prosecutor-General of Veratia directed Judge Carmine della Chiesa to investigate Vitelli's claims, Carafa directed total secrecy around the investigation for fearing political pressure or interference. As a result, the early stages of the investigation were conducted in spare office space in Della Chiesa's counselling business. Carafa was assisted by fellow magistrates Maria Sophia Bellanova and Stefano Paolo Augustino. The investigation focused on the land Vitelli had been arrested for trespassing onto, the team were quick to trace the project's corresponding business records. On the 12 April, the team reported to Carafa that the wind farm was being constructed by a company that had no records beyond its name, address and managing director's name, "Marco Zara", whom was soon found to be an alias.

The land on which the wind farm was to be constructed however, was not seized by the federal government via eminent domain like all others, but was sold legitimately by a farmer to a man identified as Carlo Solariano, a prominent businessman and donor to the Etrurian Federalist Party. On the 16 April, Solariano was arrested for fraud, news of his arrest went national and the next day the EFP distanced itself from Solariano, describing him as a "losca" (literally shady). Disgruntled by the lack of support and loyalty, Solariano opted to divulge more evidence to the Veratian prosecutors, detailing that the wind farm was actually one of "hundreds" of similar fake projects across Etruria. This prompted Carafa to authorise a widening of the investigation, he also began to coordinate with other Prosecutor-Generals in Palestrina, Torrazza and Carvagna, states that had been listed by Solariano.

First phase

On the 1 May, a total of six further business people were arrested in Veratia in connection with the wind farm, though these individuals were not linked in any way to the EFP, the did have connections to a number of political consulting companies who had been in contracted work with the EFP at the state level in Veratia and Palestrina. On the 2 May, two men were arrested for fraud in relation to a federal infrastructure project aimed at constructing a tunnel under the Adixe River south of Carxeri, investigators found that this project too had been established by a fake company under an alias. It was this second project that resulted in Carafa issuing interview requests of officials from the National Audit Office, the federal body tasked with vetting federally funded projects and grants. In his second interview with Della Chiesa, Solariano revealed that a number of individuals in the NOA were involved in the scheme and were initially bribed by Girolamo Abate, one of Etruria's wealthiest men and a major donor to the EFP, and a personal friend of President Emiliano Reali. These NAO officials were selected by the NOA chairman, Ronaldo Vittore Ciano to audit and vet projects involved in the scheme.

On the 5 May, Giorgio Urbano Cassini the magistrate tasked with heading the investigation in Palestrina began investigating a federally-funded project to construct a theme park north of Tyrrenhus. The company contracted to build the park, Imburgia Services was awarded €85.5 million, though when the site was visited by officers only fencing was erected. Cassini also reported that little to no effort was made to advertise the construction of a theme park, while his team discovered Imburgia had only ever built apartment buildings and lacked the expertise to build a large entertainment complex. However, Ugo Imburgia was an associate of Girolamo Abate and had previously been awarded contracts by the EFP-led state government of Palestrina.

On the 8 May, Pierligui Versace, the Prosecutor-General of Carvagna established a team of magistrates to investigate the projects cited by Solariano. They identified four identical cases of projects contracted to fake companies, all being wind farms in the Carvantine Valley. In all four cases, eminent domain had been used to acquire the land off farmers and one case, the Comune of San Bernadino. Recognising the widespread nature of these fake projects, the three Prosecutor-Generals agreed to unify their investigations headed by Della Chiesa.

Girolamo Abate, the EFP's biggest donor and personal friend of President Reali was arrested for bribery. He would be revealed to be the principal organiser and middleman of the scheme.

By early May, a total of 18 people had been arrested in connection to the fake projects, all on charges of fraud and identity theft. The investigation now named, Miraviglia after the theme park in Palestrina formulated a framework for investigating the scheme. First, they would identify all the fake projects across Etruria and detain those who registered the front companies utilising alias under charges of fraud, and by providing lenient sentences in exchange for information build a case for the second phase of the investigation, in which they would target the business people, civil servants and politicians involved. Owing to how swiftly the EFP abandoned Solariano, over the succeeding days, the investigators found those arrested to be more cooperative than first assumed. On the 23 May, the Telegrafo Solariano printed a front-page story about the arrests since April, alerting the Etrurian political class to the investigation, however, due to the ongoing EC membership referendum, the story received little attention by the public or other major media outlets.

Second phase

Despite the investigation being leaked by the press, the team continued to unearth the extent of the scheme to launder money through non-existent construction projects across the country. On 3 June, Girolamo Abate, the largest donor of the EFP was arrested on charges of bribery by the Palestrine team. Having investigated Solariano's claim that he had bribed National Audit Office employees to vet the fake projects, the investigation believed they had sufficient evidence. The arrest of Abate brought the investigation to popular attention, prompting the EFP-led government to again, dismiss any connection to Abate. In his official response to the arrest, President Emiliano Reali remarked, If Abate did indeed engage in bribery of officials, then I can assure you that the EFP, the government and myself personally had no knowledge. We will welcome justice if he is guilty." Reportedly under the impression the party, government and president he had donated €1.5 million to since 2009 would protect him, Abate like Solariano opted to divulge his involvement and knowledge as revenge and to secure a reduced sentence for bribing a federal official. Almost immediately, the Reali government began briefing against Abate, claiming that he had used his donations as a means of "buying the party" and that resistance from the leadership had turned him sour against the Sotirian democratic government. However, the press began to counter by circulating photographs and stories of his long friendship with the businessman, including photographs of Abate at Reali's wedding.

On June 6, the investigation arrested ten National Audit Office employees in connection to Abate's bribes. The next day, the Chairman of the NOA Ronaldo Vittore Ciano was arrested for receiving bribes. By this point, the investigation through Abate had determined that the scheme involved the most senior figures within Reali's administration, including himself. June would also see numerous arrests at the local and state levels of government, principally of politicians who had been involved directly in the establishment of non-existent projects or interfering with processes to protect the projects from auditing at their respective levels of government. Notably, these included figures from both the Etrurian Federalist Party and the Social Democratic Party, the former's coalition partner under Reali.

Legacy

Demise of Sotirian Democracy in Etruria

President Emiliano Reali initially professed his innocence until he was forced to release his financial records.