Liguria Scandal: Toti Investigation Uncovers COVID Data Manipulation and Private Healthcare Funding Irregularities

Italy - Ekhbary News Agency

Liguria Scandal: Toti Investigation Uncovers COVID Data Manipulation and Private Healthcare Funding Irregularities

GENOA, Italy – The high-profile corruption investigation that has placed Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti under house arrest has unveiled a complex web of alleged misconduct, extending beyond initial bribery charges to include the manipulation of critical public health data during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, a parallel, previously undisclosed inquiry is scrutinizing the financial contributions from private healthcare entities to Toti's political committee, raising serious questions about the intersection of politics and private interests in the region's healthcare sector.

At the heart of one strand of the investigation are intercepted conversations from March 2021, a period when Italy was grappling with its vaccination campaign and Liguria faced a shortage of doses. Recordings reveal exchanges between Toti's chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani (also under house arrest), and other officials, discussing the alleged inflation of vaccine requirement figures submitted to General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, the Extraordinary Commissioner for the COVID-19 emergency. In one particularly revealing exchange, Cozzani reportedly stated, "I had already rigged it," referring to the data, while Toti himself admitted to having "increased them a bit."

Financial police, interpreting these conversations, concluded that it was "plausible to hypothesize that the data were subject to manipulation." This alleged alteration of figures transmitted to the national government constituted a "false public act," intended to secure a larger and quicker supply of vaccines for the Liguria region. While Figliuolo's structure ultimately stated that supply decisions were made on other bases, implying no significant direct consequences on vaccine distribution, the act itself highlights a profound breach of public trust and integrity during a national health crisis.

Beyond the data manipulation, prosecutors in Genoa are shining a light on another, hitherto unknown, branch of the inquiry: the financing of the 'Comitato Toti' – a political committee linked to the Fondazione Change – by various private and affiliated healthcare structures. Among the prominent contributors is Casa della Salute, a network of specialized polyclinics controlled by the Italmobiliare group. This entity has experienced a significant boom in Liguria since its inception in 2013, now boasting 29 facilities and employing 900 staff, including 450 doctors. Toti himself reportedly reciprocated by presenting one of their events at the Regional Transparency Hall.

Another key financier identified is Iclas of Rapallo, part of the GVM group, a contracted clinical institute that performs over 700 cardiology and cardiac surgery procedures annually. Investigators are scrutinizing these and other contributions, seeking to verify their regularity and determine if they correspond to any administrative measures or favors granted to the contributors. Such a correlation could potentially lead to charges of corruption or illicit financing.

The issue has naturally fueled a heated political debate in Liguria concerning public versus private healthcare. Governor Toti and his allies advocate for the integration of private entities into the healthcare system, arguing that "contracted private care is public in all respects... The patient pays nothing and accesses the same conditions as a public hospital." Conversely, the opposition, led by Pier Luca Garibaldi of the Democratic Party, vehemently disputes this, asserting that diverting public resources to the private sector structurally weakens public healthcare and ultimately costs Ligurian citizens more for medical treatment. Garibaldi highlighted that approximately 50 million euros were allocated to this 'new world' in the first four months of the current year alone, calling it an "enormous sum" and a "damage for everyone."

Both investigative strands remain active, underscoring the ongoing legal challenges facing Toti and his administration. The probes collectively paint a picture of intense scrutiny over governance, transparency, and the delicate balance between public service and private interests within the Ligurian political landscape.

Ekhbary News Agency