The tragedy of Morandi Bridge Could Genoa have been avoided? Certainly yes, and even more so after listening to the sensational and disconcerting declarations of Gianni Mion, the former CEO of Edizione, the holding company of the Benetton family which at the time controlled Autostrade per l’Italia. Heard as a witness at the bridge collapse trial, which involved 59 defendants, the manager said that was aware of the risk of collapse since 2010but that he said nothing probably because he was afraid of losing his job.

PONTE MORANDI: “THE RISK OF COLLAPSE HAD ALREADY EMERGED IN 2010”

Mion’s testimony refers to a meeting held precisely in 2010, which was attended by the CEO of Aspi Giovanni Castellucci, the general manager Riccardo Mollo, Gilberto Benetton, the college of auditors of Atlantia and, according to the memories of the director, also technicians and managers of Spea Engineering, the company owned by the Benettons themselves that was responsible for inspect Autostrade infrastructure.

“It turned out that the Morandi bridge had an original design flaw and that was in danger of collapsingMion told the judges, “I asked if there was anyone who certified security and Riccardo Mollo replied ‘we self-certify it‘. Unfortunately I didn’t answer, but I was worried. What does self-certify mean? It is a contradiction in terms. I didn’t agree but I didn’t say anythingit’s my regret”. Mion then added that at this meeting, they all agreed on self-certification: “Given the type of work, either a third party verified it or you closed the deck. But self-certification seemed absurd to meno one else had doubts of any kind, they were all in agreement”.

PONTE MORANDI: THE ABSURDITY OF THE CONTROLLER OF THE PROPERTY OF CONTROLS

For the manager, it was paradoxical that Spea was in charge of verifying the infrastructures of Aspi, a somewhat questionable choice given that the two belonged to the same property: “A mistake was made by Aspi when acquiring Spea, the controller could not be from the controlled. But in fact, I had the feeling that nobody was in control of anything. My idea is that there was a collapse of the internal and external control system, there was not even a trace of the ministry”.

This laxity in the controls was in a way confirmed by the current CEO of Aspi, Roberto Tomasialso heard him as a witness, who told how since 2020 there has been an increase in risk coefficients of more than 200% compared to those recorded by Spea, whereas in 2019 it was only 50%. In short, since the controls were carried out seriously, the irregularities relating to the bridges, viaducts and tunnels exploded “randomly”.

After Mion’s testimony at trial, the defense attorney for one of the accused Autostrade per l’Italia executives asked also investigate the manager. The judges replied that they will reserve the right to assess the application.

Leaving the court, surrounded by journalists, Gianni Mion reiterated the statements made in the courtroom, adding that he had not spoken about the facts at the time, perhaps because he feared losing his job as CEO of the holding company.

THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS: “LAST WORDS OF MION, HE KNEW AND DID NOTHING”

Called to comment on Mion’s statements on the collapse of the Morandi bridge, the president of the association of the families of the victims, Egle Possetti, recalled that the situation of the bridge was fully aware of the top management of the company and its leaders who, however, they did nothing to avert disaster. And even Mion’s confession is late:I wonder how anyone can shut up when you have gravity information like this in your hands and how some people can sleep peacefully. If he was aware of the situation he had to make a civil gesture, report it, I would have done it in his place. Leaving later is not enough, he had to resign immediately. However, the state has also failed badly in terms of controls, here they are all responsible”.