The Navy in the periscope of the magistrates of Potenza, but the printed paper begins to shoot

25/04/16

It has been a while since the periscope of the Public Prosecutor's Office carefully observes some of the Navy's events, but it was the last 2 April that the first time-strikes were fired: the Corriere della Sera in the new edition of the night rebuilds the titles of the first page: "Investigated De Giorgi, Chief of Staff of the Navy"(v. article). However, the reason for the investigation is not specified. But the news had to be well targeted to arrive in time ... What is rumored is instead that the following Monday we should have discussed the appointment of the new head of civil protection where Admiral De Giorgi was among the possible names in the circle of the eligible candidates.

The blows against the Chief of the Navy all arrive in succession scanned evoking past facts that allow us to imagine how the news is not born by pure chance, as if to obey a perverse, devious and instrumental logic hatched by someone who wanted to put it to the Chief of Staff of the Marina the stick between the propellers. It is in fact the national and local media that notify the Navy Chief of Staff of being investigated for trafficking of illicit influences e abuse of office, and the news follows one another in bursts on the story that also involves other pieces of the State.

What is certain is that the financing of naval law has raised some different expectations in the allocation of the resources of the department of defense, while this financing operation could not but favor the placement of Fincantieri, a company that has to realize the new patrol boats height; for another side it seems that the annoyances of relaunching the national naval industry have also come from the French allied cousins. In fact it is known as the contract that Fincantieri would have to sign in Qatar for the construction of frigates for a value of 5 billion euros was suspended after the French authorities had called the Doha authorities to prevent the agreements from becoming operational.

The opportunity obviously cannot escape those behind the scenes that want to take advantage of the ad hoc concealed attack and so the crows and the informers or other people who have felt their feet stamped have been caught in the middle as each senior manager inevitably making choices may not upset someone. But this is not the way to aspire to an invoked justice, firing in here and in the accusations unfounded and misrepresented, stuffed with propaganda that did not hit any target, but that helped to tarnish the image of the Navy and who directs it. On this anonymous file (published by Repubblica and Corriere della Sera) that accuses the Navy Chief of Staff a complaint was filed for slander against unknown persons. As for the transfer of Admiral Camerini from Sicily to La Spezia it can be documented that it was widely anticipated and therefore outside any possibility of abuses committed by Admiral De Giorgi (v. article)

The law has been violated: The Chief of Staff of the Navy has learned the news of being entered in the register of suspects by the press, but this is not the correct procedure required by criminal legislation. To clarify our ideas is the Supreme Court which affirms a principle that is too disregarded and overlooked by the media on the subject of investigative secrecy. The news that is reported in the general register of crime reports, kept at the clerks of the prosecutors are secret, for the purposes and for the effects of art. 326 of the Criminal Code, being able to be revealed only to those who have the right and in compliance with the rules governing the right of access. Therefore, the principle sanctioned by the Court of Cassation (sentence no.44403 of 2015), states that the crime of disclosing office secrets is supplemented by the conduct of the clerk of the clerk who supplies it to third parties not authorized to receive it, and without respecting the procedure provided for by art. 110 bis avail. att. cpp, in relation to art. 335, cpp, - according to which the secretariat of the public prosecutor can initiate the request for communication of the entries contained in the register of crime reports, only after the public prosecutor has given an express reply and, competing with the PM himself to verify whether specific needs that justify the temporary secretation of registrations.

It is therefore clear that among the potential perpetrators of the offense committed in competition, journalists who have spread the news can also be called, shooting at zero on the Navy with all the possible and imaginable consequences on the media and public opinion.

The crime exists even more because it is in a phase of absolute delicacy, such as that of the preliminary investigations, since it is not possible to allow access to certain data to a person not authorized to receive them. The configurability of the offense is direct insofar as it is a crime of concrete danger that protects the good performance of the administration, when the disclosure of the news is even only likely to cause prejudice to the latter or to a third party. In this case the administration is that of the Defense, that is a vital part for the State

Il image damage to the Armed Forces which operates with such essential irreplaceable and fundamental tasks for national security was obtained, without thinking that in such a delicate situation no one should have been able to shoot news that vegetates only with hypotheses. But the intentions had probably already been planned and strategically completed.

TASKS OF THE MARINA. The Navy, like the other Armed Forces, has as its priority objective the defense of the State also with the task of working to achieve peace and security in accordance with the rules of international law and the determinations of international organizations of which Italy is part, in the spirit of the 11 article of the Constitution, also contributing to safeguarding the free institutions together with the defense of the vital interests of the country against any possible aggression, in order to safeguard the integrity of the national territory - the security and integrity of the ways of communication, the security of areas of national sovereignty and compatriots abroad, wherever they are threatened; carrying out even specific tasks in circumstances of public calamity and in other cases of extraordinary necessity and urgency. In addition, defense tasks are added to NATO. the EU and the UN, management of international crises, interventions to the most recent forms of asymmetric conflict, with particular reference to the fight against international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To adhere to these multiple tasks, the Navy uses the naval instrument in the main, Ships in various configurations (patrol boats, corvettes, frigates, destroyers, etc.) which, to operate adequately, are expected to be in conditions of operational readiness, employability and efficiency.

So what does a Navy Chief of Staff have to do? Like any good public or private employer that is, in pursuit of its legitimate institutional or business objectives, it is expected to obtain the necessary financial resources, without which other resources cannot be involved in the production process of goods or services . In this case the final product is state security.

Let's see what the duties of the Chief of Staff of the Navy are. Desired from the Legislative Decree n.66 of 15 March 2010, Code of the military order that in the art. 33 assigns to the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces the relative tasks which consist in addition to the Chief Armed Forces Command, in proposing to the Chief of Staff of the Defense the program relating to the respective Armed Forces for the purpose of preparing the general inter-force planning (in strength of Article 26) in addition to the responsibility for the organization and preparation of the respective Armed Forces.

Furthermore, the Chief of the Navy as a top organ of the maritime defense component of the State must ensure that the Armed Forces fulfill the provisions of Article 111 of the aforementioned 66 Decree, namely:

1. supervision to protect national interests and maritime communication routes beyond the external limit of the territorial sea, including the fight against piracy

2.al competition for the purpose of preventing and combating migrant traffic by sea, in international waters, as well as in the context of operational cooperation between EU Member States, managing the necessary integrated maritime surveillance device;

3.al competition to combat drug trafficking;

4.al water supply service for the smaller islands.

But it's not over. The Chief of Staff of the Navy under Article 115 of the same Decree 66 must ensure that it manages to organize vigilance at sea with its Armed Forces as required by the Law on the Defense of the Sea, as in case of necessity it can integrate the surveillance and rescue service at sea carried out by the Harbor Master's Office. as well as the surveillance for the prevention of pollution of marine waters from hydrocarbons and other harmful substances in the marine environment and the ascertainment of breaches of the relevant regulations.

It therefore appears to be linear in the face of these innumerable essential and exclusive tasks for the defense of the State and its national interests, the Navy primarily needs adequate financial resources that allow it to keep its fleet efficient and operational, done much more 'relevant where in the period of economic and restriction of spending reviews take on even more of an emergency nature. It cannot therefore imagine inert behavior on the part of those who have these responsibilities before the security of the country to urge the government bodies to adequately finance the naval military apparatus that can only allow the achievement of institutional goals.

The role played by the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy. It must also be highlighted for how The Navy Summit has played an active role in fulfilling the dictates of the law. Coming from an operational career up to the position of commander of the naval squad as well as of the NATO rapid reaction maritime forces, the amm. De Giorgi gave impetus by deeply reorganizing the Armed Forces, rationalizing Commands, departments and offices, creating an office for the design of ships in economy and for the first time nucleus of military technicians who take care of the maintenance of military infrastructures with cost savings of all respect that have positively influenced the relative spending items. But it is on the naval operational component that the great turning point has been given with a fleet that has seen an increase in the number of miles traveled and with the allocation of sufficient financial resources for the construction of new ships to replace the older ones thus avoiding to eliminate the fleet called to an increasingly central role in the Mediterranean. Obviously, the fact did not go unnoticed in military forces. A profound moralizer of the Armed Forces with zero tolerance for those who are not worthy of wearing a uniform, he was awarded the "Military of the Year" by the United States when he commanded the Italian naval group brilliantly conducted the landing ahead of time, of the Italian blue helmets, Fanti di Marina and Lagunari of the San Marco and Serenissima regiments (Joint Landing Force Lebanon) on the border between Lebanon and Israel, with the arrival of 860 men at the base of Jabal Marun, In recent times with the creation of the operation 'Mare Nostrum' gave life to the rescue operation at sea, started after a boat loaded with refugees from Libya sank near the island of rabbits on 3 October 2013, the Navy Chief of Staff was able to bring in budget a rescue of over 150.000 human lives.

In this affair, only after having been heard by the judges of the Public Prosecutor of Potenza, Admiral De Giorgi was able to know punctually the crime in the hypothesis for which he is investigated: the abuse of office.

A LOOK AT THE RIGHT. According to the art. 323 of the Criminal Code, the abuse of office occurs when the public official or the public service representative, "in the performance of the functions or the service, in violation of the laws or regulations, ……., it intentionally procures to itself or to others an unfair financial advantage". The legal asset protected by the art. 323 is identified in the impartiality, efficiency, good performance and transparency of the Public Administration, ie in the protection of principles to which the administrative activity referred to also in art. 97 of the Constitution, to pursue the public interests to which it is assigned, without benefiting itself to the detriment of the associates. The Supreme Court affirms that the crime it should be excluded, instead, when the primary objective pursued by the agent is to satisfy the public interest (sent. n. 708 / 2003. This can only be valid if the offense is committed by the person whose care for the public interest was remitted and if the specific vehicle chosen was the only one capable of achieving this interest " (sent. n. 21165 / 2009).

The options of the Chief of Staff of the Navy. Ultimately there is no doubt, on the bridge the admiral has only two buttons: 1 - see the fleet slowly sinking passively, 2 - finding the resources to make it stay afloat. Choose the second where the national interest is dominant. So we wonder if having an active attitude to adorn the military naval fleet and carry out the defense of the State, requiring the parliament to release the necessary funds, could be a behavior that assumes a crime of abuse of office. The result will be the response of the judges, at the end of the observation at the periscope, only a deep investigative immersion will bring to light the naked truth, because the one covered by the slime of the seabed becomes insidious and is really scary for the unjust consequences it can have.

Valerio Arditi