Justice and waste: the golden fees of the judicial administrators of the bosses' assets

FEES FOR JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATORS OF CONFISCATED PROPERTY –

Risk of paralysis: with these words, the odd couple of magistrates and judicial administrators threaten to block the Italian courts. The reason? A government decree , signed by Minister Andrea Orlando, who allowed himself , treasonously, to cap the fees of professionals appointed by judges to temporarily administer companies seized from organized crime clans.

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WASTE OF CONFISCATED ASSETS IN ITALY –

Orlando's intervention , inspired by a modicum of common sense and transparency, is unwelcome because it puts its hands on a cake that has so far been divided up without any oversight, thus threatening to cripple a clientelist organization built piece by piece in the name of a false fight for legality . An investigation by Il Mattino, authored by Andrea Bassi, has demonstrated, with figures in hand, the enormous waste surrounding the cloud of seized assets. We're talking about 8 confiscated companies (288 in Naples alone), and properties with a total value of over 30 billion euros. This money could lighten the state's finances if it were put to good use, promptly and with clear rules, or sold off, a veritable hidden treasure. Instead, administrators are appointed, who collect golden fees and lead businesses, even the healthiest ones, into the abyss of bankruptcy, or zero value. All at the sole discretion of individual courts, without any consistent criteria, without any publicity, just like any private negotiation. A procedure that, if adopted in the same way by a normal public administrator, would result in a formal investigation, a complaint from the Court of Auditors, and a trial with a subsequent conviction.

No one knows the size of the pay awarded to each judicial administrator, and only thanks to journalistic investigations, for example, was it discovered that the one appointed in Naples for the Ragosta company was paid a fee of €1.8 million. That's the salary of a top manager at a publicly traded company or a major bank. The anomaly didn't go unnoticed by Raffaele Cantone, head of the Anti- Corruption Authority , and partly thanks to his pressure, the government finally decided to intervene, attempting to bring order to the chaos governed by the odd couple of magistrates and judicial administrators we often see arguing together at seaside conventions.

ITALIAN PENSION RANKINGS –

A strange twist of coincidence has finally brought about the picaresque protest in the courts on the same day that the INPS (National Institute of Social Security) announces its pension rankings for Italians. Guess which category tops the list? Magistrates, of course, earning €9.573 gross per month, a full €6 more than the second-ranked university staff . They are a world away from the 1 million pensioners who can't even collect a €500 monthly check. At this point, let's just hope that Minister Orlando and Prime Minister Renzi aren't intimidated by their interlocutors' threats. The paralysis that is being feared is, in fact, already here. And for any citizen, a paralysis with a discount, with reduced fees, is better than one paid for at a premium with the poor taxpayers' money. And with the mafiosi and the Camorristi rubbing their hands as they see how a small part of their assets, once entrusted to the State, ends up in ruin.

TO KNOW MORE: Civil justice does not exist in Italy