LIVE - Milan, Sala in the Council Chamber: "My hands are clean, I did everything in the best interests of the citizens."

"I can't be brief, and I regret it. This is a delicate moment for many reasons that have to do with me personally," Sala began his address to the City Council. "These are confusing days in which everything seems to be growing unclear, certainties seem to waver, and even the most familiar features seem to blur. And that's why I want to be crystal clear," Sala continued.

It's Giuseppe Sala 's day, the mayor: Milan's mayor, also under investigation in the investigation into urban planning and procurement , is speaking at the City Council meeting. So far, he has only expressed disappointment at learning from the press, not the Prosecutor's Office, that he was directly implicated in the investigation that has rocked the Palazzo Marino urban planning and construction establishment, with calls for his arrest and resignation.

" Everything I have done during my two terms as mayor , which I have had the burden and honor of, has always been based exclusively on the interests of the citizens . There is not a single action that can be attributed to my advantage," the mayor said, among other things.

Meanwhile, Sala has received the support of local Democratic Party representatives: "As a delegation, we reiterated the Democratic Party's support and backing to the mayor. We expressed our priorities, confirming to the mayor the need for signals of change to respond to the city's new needs. This could be an opportunity to start over, investing in the intense engagement with the city by the entire center-left, prioritizing the most pressing challenges facing Milan: the right to housing, the direction of urban development, accessibility, equity, and the public city," wrote Alessandro Capelli , secretary of the Milan Democratic Party, in a statement.

The mayor rejects the accusations leveled against him by the magistrates and has consistently defended the City Council's actions since the investigation began, reiterating that he does not agree with the prosecutor's reconstruction.

These are therefore crucial hours for the mayor: today he will explain whether and how he will continue in his role as mayor. The path is now clear for the councilor for Urban Regeneration, Giancarlo Tancredi, who is moving toward resignation. Upon entering the Sala Brigida, the councilor was greeted with hugs and handshakes from his fellow council members. Among those present in the chamber, Democratic Party representatives such as Pietro Bussolati and Simona Malpezzi , Alessandro Capelli, Silvia Roggiani, as well as Ivan Scalfarotto of Italia Viva, were also present.

The Prosecutor's Office has requested house arrest for him. He is preparing a preliminary hearing with his lawyer for Wednesday, during which he intends to clarify his position. He will also be present in court, but it's not yet clear whether he will speak (Sala himself could officially announce Tancredi's resignation). Tancredi's resignation is a necessary step, as he has managed all the most important urban planning issues in recent years, and after the accusations leveled against him, he cannot continue to hold that position.

The council meeting promises to be tense, with potential protests from the center-right opposition. At the beginning of the mayor's speech, there was a heated exchange , repeated several times, with FdI councilor Marcora . For his part, Sala needs guarantees to continue his mandate until its natural expiration in 2027. Likewise, the Democratic Party is demanding a change of direction from him, first and foremost on urban planning, but also on housing , green spaces, and the idea of creating a city more suited to the middle class .

At a later stage we will see whether a third, non-political figure will replace Tancredi, acting as a guarantor, who will work alongside the mayor in the final part of his mandate to have a new PGT, Land Management Plan, and to implement the Extraordinary Housing Plan, which plans to build 10,000 apartments for the middle class on municipal land.

Concerns in the last few hours have focused on the future of the Meazza Stadium : the "San Siro" deal is now one step away from completion, with the Municipality about to sell the stadium and its grounds to Inter Milan and AC Milan. Negotiations have been ongoing since 2019 and are at risk of falling through due to the ongoing investigations.

Sala wants assurances from the Democratic Party that there will be unity and support, and will certainly find his party's support in the chamber to approve the resolution on the stadium's sale. According to the roadmap, which Sala himself had drawn up before yet another earthquake, the resolution on the sale should have been submitted to the council next week, followed by an immediate convocation of the committees and finally a final vote in the chamber. The goal is to complete the transaction by July 31st, but the Democratic Party would like to stall, especially given that the San Siro is under the scrutiny of the Prosecutor's Office.

On November 10th, the 70-year protection period for the second tier will come into effect , and from that moment on, the stadium cannot be demolished, something Inter and AC Milan want to do in their plans for a new stadium. The party has always been divided on the deal. At least five members of the majority are opposed to the sale, and there could be more after the latest legal developments.

The Prosecutor's Office has submitted six arrest warrants , including businessman Manfredi Catella (president of Coima) and city councilor Giancarlo Tancredi (who reportedly intends to resign). A total of 74 people are under investigation , including architect Stefano Boeri , on charges ranging from corruption to illegal construction. Preliminary hearings will take place on Wednesday, July 23. Following these, the investigating judge will decide whether to grant the precautionary measures requested by the Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation has raised serious concerns about the construction freeze: 150 construction sites are currently at a standstill, affecting approximately 1,600 apartments and more than 4,500 families.

According to investigators, the Landscape Commission is the fulcrum of the "pathologies" of urban planning management, with parallel tasks entrusted to public officials by large real estate groups.

There are two hypotheses of crime :

• False statements regarding one's own personal qualifications or those of others, in relation to the appointment of the former president of the Municipality's Landscape Commission, Giuseppe Marinoni.
• Competing in undue inducement to give or promise benefits in relation to the “Pirellino” project by architect Stefano Boeri and entrepreneur Manfredi Catella, president of the Coima group.

“The Pirellino? We sold it in 2019 and we're still stuck . Six years have passed and work hasn't started,” Sala explains. “It wasn't induction, it was a constant discussion because we never reached an agreement on what they could do.”

The second issue concerns Marinoni's appointment . "The composition of the Landscape Commission is managed by a special municipal body that selects the profiles and decides on its members," the mayor told the newspaper. "The relationship between the mayor and the commission is practically nonexistent. I should add that I have never had Marinoni's number."

This is the mayor's response to rumors about the investigation according to which Giuseppe Marinoni, architect and former president of the Landscape Commission of the municipality of Milan, was pursuing a "shadow plan" for territorial governance (PGT).

The new judicial line on the urban planning management of Milan has led to six arrest warrants , including one for Marinoni himself, and house arrest for councilor Giancarlo Tancredi and for Manfredi Catella , founder of Coima.

Regarding Tancredi, the mayor also stated that "the councilor is consulting with his lawyers before taking any action." However, his resignation is now expected to be imminent , and, according to reports, the Democratic Party is not opposing it.

Architect Giuseppe Marinoni, president of the now-disbanded Landscape Commission and a central figure in the major urban planning investigation, partly due to his dossier sponsored by the City of Milan on "Metropolitan Nodes and Gateways," had been traveling abroad "since at least 2017" with a colleague from a Lugano firm, "searching for urban nodes to study, identifying locations and tracking down parties interested in closing deals and selling master plans to" to "initiate massive real estate speculation." This emerges from prosecutors' records and several chats from eight years ago. For the prosecutors, "the analogy with the Milan case is striking."

According to Milanese prosecutors, Marinoni acted under Tancredi's "cover and with the knowledge" of Tancredi, "pursuing the goal of implementing a shadow Territorial Management Plan (PGT) ." And, "for high fees," he received "private contracts from real estate finance companies and landowners involved in major urban planning and construction projects" in Milan. Among the companies, S+J, with architect Federico Pella , has been requested for whom prison custody has been requested, with whom he "made a corruption pact."

The Milan prosecutors' search warrant and seizure also cite Unipol, Redo Sgr, Lendlease, EuroMilano, Hines, and Coima. There are also references to "interference" in certain real estate projects by former Housing Councilor Pierfrancesco Maran , now a Democratic Party MEP.

According to prosecutors Petruzzella, Filippini, and Clerici, the events surrounding the project "in the Bluestone courtyard in Piazza Aspromonte," which launched the 2022 investigation into the "altered system of Milanese urban planning," and the case of the "Via Crescenzago towers," were "punctuated" by interference in favor of those projects by Oggioni, the former municipal manager and vice president of the Landscape Commission arrested last March, and "by then-councilor Maran," who is not listed as under investigation in the filed documents. In a message reported in the documents from December 2020, entrepreneur Andrea Bezziccheri of Bluestone wrote to Alessandro Scandurra, a member of the Landscape Commission, that "Maran also exerted strong pressure on the commission."

"I'm confident... not for the administration, but for the partners we're dragging along. They've always been responsible for urban planning, for 20 years. Now we're convincing them to do it a little better." These are the words in a chat on August 4, 2024, from the then-chairman of the Landscape Commission, Giuseppe Marinoni, for whom the Milan Prosecutor's Office has requested prison time.

Marinoni's message, which he was speaking with Federico Pella, a manager at J+S (who has also been asked to serve a prison sentence), is "emblematic" for the prosecutors, because on that date in August last year "the strategic program of the 'nodes' had been underway for some time" and "was nearing the final stages of the delivery of the masterplan and PPP," i.e., the public-private partnership, but "the shadows of doubts raised by some municipal managers and officials were gathering, who had reservations about the excessive heights and volumes and other aspects of those projects."

The documents also include a chat from a year and a half earlier in which Marinoni expressed his joy in Pella at having received Palazzo Mario's sponsorship for the study on metropolitan hubs. On January 13, 2023, he wrote, "Today they sent me the Municipality's sponsorship for the study on interchanges... I'll start with my friends in Lugano to find sponsors to finance the study." And on July 1, 2024, again in Pella, he said: "I spoke again with Tancredi [the councilor who risks house arrest, ed.] you pig of (...) then I'll also meet with Bardelli [former Housing councilor, ed.] about this matter. I'd like to ask him if we can allocate 100,000 square meters of construction to each hub."

Manfredi Catella, the real estate developer and founder of Coima, is accused of corruption. Catella's company is involved in major real estate projects that have transformed the city's skyline in recent years, such as Milan's Porta Nuova railway station, the Pirellino railway station, the Porta Romana railway yard for the Olympic Village buildings, and the Biblioteca degli Alberi (Library of Trees) in the Porta Garibaldi-Piazza Gae Aulenti area . Investigators served the businessman with the notice as he was about to depart on a scheduled trip.

"We have received notification from the Court of Milan informing us of the ongoing investigation into a design assignment previously entrusted by our company to architect Scandurra. Given the architect's role as a member of the landscape commission of the Municipality of Milan until 2024, the hypothesis arises that the professional assignment entrusted to him may have influenced the professional's conduct on the commission regarding projects promoted by our company. We have promptly provided what has been requested so far and conducted internal checks to confirm the compliance in this regard, which we will have the opportunity to clearly explain in court." This is what Catella said in a statement .

He continued, "transparency and legality" are "fundamental for our group and for all of us, and we will have the opportunity to affirm this with determination even in this circumstance."

Stefano Boeri, the architect known worldwide for his "Bosco Verticale" (Vertical Forest), is also under investigation in the latest installment of the investigation by the Financial Police Unit of the Italian Finance Police (GFD) into Milan's urban planning. He is being investigated without a request for pre-trial detention, and searches have been carried out . Among the projects at the center of the new investigation is the redevelopment of the Pirelli skyscraper. Boeri is also charged in two other proceedings in Milan: for bid-rigging and false declarations in the case of the European Library of Information and Culture, and for unauthorized construction in the Bosconavigli project.

"I am convinced that my firm and I acted correctly regarding a building, the so-called Botanical Tower, which, as is well known, it was decided not to build some time ago. I trust that the judicial authorities will soon ascertain my complete innocence in the improprieties attributed to me."

In a statement regarding the latest investigation, Milan's Public Prosecutor Marcello Viola explains how investigations into Milan's urban planning have revealed " profiles of uncontrolled building expansion " that "has assumed extremely significant proportions," he writes in the statement, which also communicates the prosecutors' requests for the application of six precautionary measures, prison and house arrest, and 24 searches and seizures by the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Finance Police), including at municipal offices. The "investigations," Viola notes, "have already led in recent months to the precautionary seizure of several construction sites" such as the Giardino Segreto on Via Lepontina, the Residenze LAC on Via Cancano, and the Scalo House on Via Valtellina-Lepontina, and "to the adoption of personal precautionary measures," including the house arrest of the former director of the Municipality of Milan's One-Stop Shop for Construction, Giovanni Oggioni.

The production orders to acquire documents were executed at the offices of the Municipality of Milan, with approximately 80 members of the Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza engaged in the investigative activities ordered by the prosecutors.

The "sponsorship approved at the suggestion of Councilor Giancarlo Tancredi and Mayor Sala for Marinoni's study on the Metropolitan Gates" was, according to Milan prosecutors, "an artificial instrument to circumvent the rules and facilitate the launch of a covert business plan, the planning and implementation of building clusters in large areas, around nine peripheral hubs, on the border between the city and the surrounding municipalities." This is stated in the documents. The chapter on the "study" on the "hubs" is central to the forgery charge relating to Marinoni's appointment as head of the Landscape Commission, for which Sala is also held accountable.

In the search warrant, the Milanese prosecutors also "calculated" the cost of the alleged corruption.

In the case of Giuseppe Marinoni , "13 cases of unreported conflict of interest have been identified to date, with a consequent failure to abstain from dealing, within the Commission he chairs, with practices involving private operators and designers with whom he has commercial relationships."

In exchange he would have received:

• €369,596.56 from J+S SpA, the company responsible for the design and feasibility study of the projects evaluated by the Landscape Commission: "Goccia - Bovisa", "Gardella 2", "Palizzi 89", "Pisani 16", "Pisani 20", "Livraghi19", and "Area Santa Giulia - Infrastrutture Arena"; €10,040.60 from Acpv Architecs, an architectural firm led by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, which responsible for the design of the projects evaluated by the Landscape Commission: "I portali - Gioia 20" and "Tortona 25";
• 26,901.00 from Lombardini 22, a company owned by Paolo Facchini, who oversaw the design of the interventions, evaluated by the Landscape Commission chaired by Marinoni, called "Bastioni Porta Nuova 19" and "Corti di Bayres".

In the case of Alessandro Scandurra , "9 cases of conflict of interest have been identified to date not reported, with the concurrent failure to abstain from dealing, within the Commission of which he was a member, with practices that involved private operators and designers with whom he has commercial relations".

In exchange he would have received:

• €279,136.00 from a company partly attributable to Andrea Bezziccheri's Bluestone, who oversaw the development of the projects, evaluated by the Landscape Commission of which he was a member, called "Hidden Garden", "Salomone 77", "Grazioli 59", "Park Towers", East Town";
• €321,074.72 from Castello SGR, which oversaw the development of the project, evaluated by the Landscape Commission of which it was a member, called "Torre Futura";
• €2,579,127.98 from Kryalos, the company that oversaw the development of the interventions, assessed by the Landscape Commission, relating to the student residence after the Olympic Village and the Pirellino.

Based on the outcome of the preliminary hearings, investigating judge Mattia Fiorentini will decide whether to accept the prosecutor's requests or revise them. Investigators have not yet been able to serve the document on one of the suspects.

The investigation involving Tancredi, Catella, president of Coima, and Andrea Bezziccheri of Bluestone, follows the one that last March led to the house arrest of Giovanni Oggioni , architect and former vice president of the Landscape Commission of Palazzo Marino, considered the alleged "master manipulator" of a "system" of "wild real estate speculation" to benefit the interests of developers.

According to prosecutors Marina Petruzzella, Paolo Filippini, and Mauro Clerici, and deputy prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano, Oggioni—who allegedly participated in drafting amendments to the Save Milan law to block investigations into urban planning, and who allegedly worked to push them through Cerri to Parliament by activating political channels—allegedly facilitated building permits in exchange for benefits.

To get some of Abitare In 's projects approved by the Commission, he allegedly secured employment at his daughter's company, also an architect, with contracts worth over €124,000 between 2020 and 2023. This was allegedly done without a conflict of interest declaration, which led to charges of forgery. Secondly, Oggioni, who was also the director of the One-Stop Shop for Construction (SUE), allegedly held a consultancy contract with Assimpredil Ance , the builders' association, worth over €178,000 between February 2022 and November 2024. For this reason, he allegedly influenced the administrative activities of a series of construction applications from member companies, eleven in total.

In light of this reconstruction, the two companies are under investigation, while the professional is facing charges of corruption. This is compounded by misdirection and other forgeries regarding various real estate projects that have already been the focus of Milanese urban planning investigations, often passed off as unlawful renovations without the necessary implementation plans.

The Milan investigation also has implications for new student housing projects . Redo Sgr , the leading real estate fund manager creating shared value through social housing and urban regeneration, has withdrawn from three projects already approved for funding from the Ministry of Education, Universities, and Regional Development (PNRR) resources.

These are - or rather were - three projects ( Rogoredo , Greco Breda and San Leonardo in Milan ) admitted to funding with a ministerial decree of concession, respectively for 473, 447 and 600 beds, for a total of 1,530 places .

The Redo company has informed the ministry headed by Anna Maria Bernini that it is unable to sign the required documents due to accumulated delays in issuing the permits, also due to the inability to activate the requested urban planning and administrative exemptions.