BRESCIA – Fabrizio Andrea Orizio, ex secretary and financial service manager of the Union of the Municipalities of Valsaviore, was accused of embezzling public funds. Yesterday, he was sentenced to two years in prison. The 69-year-old was charged with embezzlement and fraud.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, he took advantage of his spending powers and appropriated community funds several times. The Prosecutor’s Office, which had requested a six-month longer sentence, accused the defendant of illegally pocketing around 15,000 euros between 2014 and 2018.
In 2017, Orizio allegedly self-liquidated 3,000 euros for trips that the investigators considered insufficiently documented. Furthermore, he allegedly transferred 423 euros for alleged meetings to define a service act, and 38,402 euros for registration expenses of the Casa Housing Sociale Sellero contract, which he had advanced as secretary. Only 36,000 euros of expenses were considered justified: the missing amount, according to Orizio, corresponds to secretarial fees that he was entitled to, but the Prosecutor’s Office disagrees. In another case, during the waiting period for a purchase contract, he allegedly inflated the registration tax expenses.
Three more times, he allegedly self-liquidated 1,130 euros for contract expenses, increasing the secretarial fees he was entitled to and pocketing 5,000 euros. He allegedly defrauded the financial managers of the Municipalities of Saviore, Malegno, and Cedegolo by sending false expense statements for 8,930 euros. Finally, he allegedly received 2,000 euros for fictitious trips from his successor at the Union of the Municipalities.
