Overview
- The Brescia review court annulled the October 9 search-and-seizure orders against Mario Venditti and Pietro Paolo Mazza and directed the Guardia di Finanza to return all electronics and any data already extracted.
- The three-judge panel of Giovanni Pagliuca, Marina Cavalleri and Lorenzo Azzi accepted the defense appeals, citing lack of sufficient indicia to justify the intrusive measures.
- Restitution will proceed for Mazza, while Venditti's phones and computers remain seized in a distinct corruption-in-judicial-acts probe tied to the Garlasco case after prosecutors reissued a seizure that the defense has challenged.
- Venditti's lawyer has reserved a request for incidente probatorio, a move that would postpone the non-repeatable forensic examinations prosecutors planned on the devices.
- Prosecutors allege peculation and bribery linked to benefits from Cristiano D’Arena’s Esitel and Cr Service, such as meals, discounted cars and free maintenance, purportedly traded for exclusive service assignments and vehicles later used privately; Venditti has accused Brescia prosecutors of falsifying documents and is weighing action against Pavia magistrates.