In 2016 Antonio Candela had received the silver medal for Merit of Public Health (at the request of the Ministry of Health) for being, among other things, “author of detailed complaints submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with consequent aggravation of the risks for his personal safety ». Manager appreciated for his organizational skills, at the forefront of Lampedusa for the great shipwreck of October 3, 2013, has been living under escort since that year, after suffering threats. Today he ended up under house arrest in the area of the investigation by the Guardia di Finanzaon an alleged round of bribes in Sicilian health. Accusations that if you try would overwhelm yet another symbol of legality in Sicily.
–
At the forefront of the Covid-19 emergency in Sicily
Former Commissioner and Director General of the Asp of Palermo, in recent weeks, after a period of stand by, the regional government had called him to the forefront, entrusting him with the delicate role of coordinator of the regional structure for the Covid-19 emergency in Sicily. And Candela was immediately busy, addressing, among other things, the delicate situation of the Troina Oasis, a center for the disabled where the virus had spread among patients and health professionals with dramatic numbers. Fifty-four years old, under escort since 2013, the year in which the manager denounced a disruption on a maxi supply of diapers when he was the administrative director of the Asp of Palermo, Candela in that circumstance had been praised by top Palermo prosecutors for being “passed by words to deeds »and pointed out by them as an example. In fact, Candela had more than once visited the public prosecutor’s office for reports and to establish a collaboration with the magistrates that would free the field from any shadows on healthcare contracts. All this had cost him a series of threats, an escalation that had led to putting him under escort.
–
An example also for the accounting judiciary
Candela was also an example for the accounting judiciary. In the 2017 Court of Auditors’ indictment, the Prosecutor General for Sicily publicly thanked him “for reporting several anomalies to the competent bodies”. In the meantime, the prestigious recognition granted by the Quirinale had arrived on the proposal of the Minister of Health (at the time Beatrice Lorenzin). “His action allowed – it was read in the motivation – the initiation of various criminal proceedings against employees of the Company and subjects well integrated in the criminal fabric and with almost unlimited financial resources connected to them variously, responsible for numerous episodes of corruption and other illegal actions against the National Health System. Also worthy of note is the establishment on the island of Lampedusa of the permanent gynecology and pediatric service which he strongly wanted, which allowed the island’s inhabitants easy access to health services previously provided only a few days a week “.
–
The charges
Now, however, there are accusations, to be tried, of the magistrates of Palermo who believe they have to move his name to the other side of the blackboard. The passionate and respectable manager would have accepted bribes according to the investigators’ hypothesis. In an investigation that also overwhelmed another key man of Sicilian health, that Fabio Damiani – for him pre-trial detention in prison and not at home as for Candela – who in turn had denounced pressure and threats on the maxi competition of diapers, telling everything to Rosario Crocetta and Lucia Borsellino, then president of the Region and councilor for Health. The case ended in prosecution. That same power of attorney that today, seven years later, asked for it and obtained his arrest.
–
–
May 21, 2020 (change May 21, 2020 | 5:12 pm)
© RESERVED REPRODUCTION
–
