The vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Delmastro’s chat messages has been postponed. The case returns to the Authorisations Committee

The case concerning the chat messages of former undersecretary and FdI MP Andrea Delmastro has returned to the Committee on Authorisation to Proceed. The vote on the use of the chat messages was due to take place today in the Chamber of Deputies but has been postponed. The Committee’s chairman, Devis Dori (Avs), has convened an immediate meeting of the Bureau to discuss the letter sent yesterday by Rome’s chief prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana, regarding the use of chat messages between the former Under-Secretary of State for Justice and the owner of ‘Bisteccherie d’Italia’ Mauro Caroccia, who is implicated in an investigation into money laundering and false ownership registrations and is believed to have links to the Senese Camorra clan. According to reports, in the letter Lo Voi maintains that it is “absolutely necessary to verify, by comparing the contents of the seized mobile phone, the exact correspondence with the messages stored therein and the completeness of the documentation produced by the defence”. The point on which the prosecutor insists is the “verification of the correspondence between the seized material and that produced by the defence”. 

Earlier this morning, President Dori announced that “the Bureau of the Authorisations Committee has been suspended and will reconvene after the plenary session has concluded to discuss the next steps and to decide, amongst other things, whether members of the Committee will be granted access to the chat messages sent by the Public Prosecutor’s Office”. 

The postponement of the vote in the Chamber has raised some doubts amongst members of the ruling coalition. The referral back to the Committee “is an irregular procedure; it is not possible to reopen the preliminary investigation simply because the Public Prosecutor’s Office intends to submit further documents”, stated Enrico Costa, leader of the Forza Italia group in the Chamber of Deputies. “The Speaker of the Chamber explained that he had received a letter from Rome’s Public Prosecutor Lo Voi an hour before the meeting of the Conference of Group Leaders. We were ready to vote today” in the Chamber on the request to examine the chat records of former Under-Secretary Delmastro. In this way, according to the Forza Italia representative, “we are setting a precedent: a document is sent an hour before the vote and the Chamber is brought to a standstill”. 

The opposition takes a completely different view. “We have asked the Chamber to await the findings of the authorisations committee” regarding Delmastro “because, for us, it is essential to vote on this matter as soon as possible,” said Riccardo Ricciardi, the M5S group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, at the end of the group leaders’ meeting. "The ball is now in the committee’s court to analyse this letter which, as it appears, requests authorisation to access these chats, including for the purposes of the right to a defence. This political class is trying to preserve its right to conceal things." For the Democrats too, the elements of Lo Voi’s letter "are certainly relevant", as PD group leader Chiara Braga stated. “Now the committee must be given the opportunity to analyse them and make its own assessments. I think I can say that the grounds for obtaining the conversations of Mr Delmastro are further strengthened” – which was “the position of the PD and the opposition parties. I believe the committee should reconsider the majority’s negative stance,” she concluded. Comments from AVS were harsher: “Some people would have preferred the committee not even to read Lo Voi’s letter, but it is right to look into the matter further. Our demand to the majority remains the same: what do you have to hide?”, said AVS MP Marco Grimaldi. “The truth is that the evidence that is emerging serves to safeguard transparency.” 

On 22 July, the Montecitorio Executive Committee rejected the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office’s request to obtain the conversations between the FdI MP and the restaurant owner. The rejection of the prosecutors’ request came with the approval of the majority’s report: the centre-right voted in favour of the proposal put forward by the rapporteur, Pietro Pittalis of Forza Italia, thereby refusing authorisation to seize the correspondence. The centre-left voted against. Following the committee’s vote, the matter was due to be brought before the Chamber of Deputies today for a final vote. In response, the Five Star Movement decided to occupy the government benches in the Senate chamber: “The authorisation committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have become a shield for centre-right politicians; the majority rejects any request from the magistrates regardless of any assessment of merit,” said the Five Star Movement members.