Senator Joseph Castelli indicted for corruption in Corsica

Joseph Castelli, 67, Senator of Corsica, is alleged to have awarded public contracts to companies that have financed the construction of his house.

Senator of Haute-Corse Joseph Castelli was indicted Thursday in Bastia for tax fraud laundering, concealment of abuse of corporate assets and passive corruption, said the prosecutor Nicolas Bessone.

Joseph Castelli, was in police custody since Tuesday as part of an investigation into the construction of a luxurious villa in Folelli, south of Bastia estimated at one million Euros.

Suspected by justice of embezzling public funds, it was left in freedom under judicial control against the payment of a deposit of 200 000 euros payable on 1^st March. Nicolas Bessone told the press that he was considering asking the seizure of the house.

The Senator, who denies the charges against him had been taken into custody Tuesday along with his wife and three construction contractors. At the police station of Bastia, they were questioned by investigators of the judicial police. Two of the three CEOs were also indicted for bribery and abuse of corporate assets. They also deny the charges against them. They are believed to have helped finance the villa. In exchange, they would have benefited from public works contracts in the amount of 10 million Euros.

These contracts were awarded until 2010 by the Casinca community of communes, in Corsica, and the town of Penta-di-Casinca, communities then led by Joseph Castelli. At the end of their hearings by a magistrate of the economic and financial center of Bastia, business leaders were left on liberty against sureties for the payment of 250 000€ for one and 60,000€ for the other.

The survey focused on the acquisition conditions and financing of the work in the house of Joseph Castelli, while presiding over the General Council of Haute-Corse from 2010 to 2014. It was opened on commission of the investigating judge Thomas Meindl economic and financial center of Bastia.

The office of the Senate in October 2015 had lifted the parliamentary immunity of Joseph Castelli, at the request of the latter. Such a measure is very rare. Shopkeeper retired, he was elected to the Upper House in 2014. Born in 1948 in the village of Penta-di-Casinca (Haute-Corse), Joseph Castelli was first deputy prime of this commune, in 1977. He was then elected in 1982, general counsel of Canton Vescovato and mayor of Penta-di-Casinca, mandate he filled until 2010.

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