Trial on the EU fraud at the Falcone school in Zen, the judge changes: hearing on April 8

The request for abstention by the investigating judge of Palermo, Walter Turturici, has been accepted in the proceedings against the former principal of the Falcone school, Daniela Lo Verde, known for her anti-mafia battles, her deputy, Daniele Agosta, and three other teachers who had requested to plead guilty to a conviction for fraud against the EU. The magistrate had rejected the request with very harsh evaluations on the conduct of the defendants and, having already ruled on the merits, will not be able to hold the preliminary hearing to decide on the possible indictment. The proceedings have been postponed to April 8 before another investigating judge.

The case arises from an investigation by the prosecutors of the European Prosecutor's Office, Gery Ferrara and Amelia Luise, against the two teachers, which revealed, among other things, that the woman and her deputy had allegedly appropriated food from the school cafeteria purchased with European funds: for these incidents, the two had pleaded guilty. Investigations also revealed that with the complicity of teachers, school staff, and tutors, in order to secure EU funding, the two had certified the regular execution of training projects that were, in fact, never realized or only partially completed. Ten defendants have been indicted, for Lo Verde and four others, the plea bargain has been rejected.

"It must be emphasized that the crimes - wrote Judge Walter Turturici - were committed within the school administration and consisted of false attestations related to school projects funded by the European Social Fund in accordance with a consolidated practice, which has become - which is very serious - within an educational institution named after Giovanni Falcone and located in an area of the city of Palermo afflicted, as is well known, by serious issues regarding the respect for legality, a circumstance that would have required the figures operating within the school institution to exhibit conducts very different from those of a fraudulent nature that emerged from the investigations.