Ubi trial ends: everyone acquitted

After more than 60 hearings, the Ubi case, which emerged in 2014 with a search of the City Bank offices, ended. The investigation stemmed from the complaints of the leaders of the two losing lists from the April 2013 Social Gathering, Giorgio Gianoni and Andrea Resti, and from the complaints of the consumer association Adusbef di Elio Lannutti.

Thirty people ended up on trial with the bank as a legal person, the 31st defendant. In different ways they had to be held accountable for different crimes. Two main factors: supervision obstacle and illegal influence on the 2013 shareholders’ meeting. In the first case, the prosecutor’s hypothesis was the shareholders’ agreement between the Bergamo and Brescia subsidiaries, which would have allowed Ubi to re-propose the old governance schemes, despite the rulings of Consob and Bankitalia (the first I filed a civil lawsuit, the second not). The bank’s senior management would have succeeded in this – according to the prosecution – by failing to communicate the truth of the facts to the two supervisory bodies.

The illegal influence on the 2013 assembly, according to the disputes, could have been done through empty agents (prohibited by legal provisions) that would have allowed to win the institutional list, headed by Andrea Moltrasio. This latter crime was prevented during recent hearings, so Prosecutor Paolo Mandorino, who initially requested 84-year prison sentences against 26 of the 31 defendants (for five who called the acquittal), had to take into account the ‘inevitability’ ‘. Acquitted – due to the statute of limitations – 14 accused.

On the other hand, the defenses demanded innocence, considering that the alleged crimes do not exist. Gannon and five other shareholders withdrew the civil lawsuit last February, after a settlement with Intesa, which meanwhile absorbed Ubi.

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