Filippo Antonio De Cecco – president of the industrial group of the same name, the world’s third-largest pasta producer – is the protagonist of some Italian justice mysteries that appear worthy of note and sharing.
Deceptive business practices that are still in place, fraud in commerce that is enduring pending trial and an 8 thousand euro ‘gift’ to the then V.President of the CSM have passed under the usual silence of the gagging press of big advertising investors and Coldiretti, with which Mr. De Cecco is precisely affiliated.
They are now joined by reports of possible false accounting and tax fraud, as well as the hiring of an executive who (combination) is the husband of the assistant prosecutor at the Pescara Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Pescara District Court, by suspect Filippo Antonio De Cecco.
Deceptive trade practices
The first journalist to cover the foreign origin of wheat was Attilio Barbieri. The news was taken up in the magazine QB (Quanto Basta) whose editor Fabiana Romanutti was forced to publish a correction, on 26.6.20, amid threats of lawsuits and reckless legal action, without even receiving the support of the Order of Journalists. (1)
The Antitrust Authority (Autorità Garante per la Concorrenza e il Mercato, AGCM) had launched an investigation that was later concluded with a voluntary commitment by De Cecco to revise labels and advertisements to clarify that the wheat in pasta made in Italy had a different origin. (2) It later emerged-as the writer also reported to AGCM-that Filippo Antonio De Cecco had deceived the Antitrust Authority itself, as well as Italian consumers.
Filippo Antonio De Cecco. Fraud in trade
30,000 tons of North Dakota wheat instead of Arizona or California, nearly 5,000 t of poor-quality French wheat falsely registered as Apulian, and a lot of semolina purchased from third parties, in defiance of the promise to process the wheat exclusively in their own mill ‘to have semolina that is always fresh.’ California wheat then stands out only on fraudulent labels, as it was never even codified in De Cecco (3,4,5).
Trade fraud and deceptive trade practices still take place, among old and new labels on supermarket shelves. Still we read the lie of the ‘best Italian grains, from Arizona and California,’ where North Dakota wheat-which is to Arizona as Norway is to Sicily-is instead the prevalent one, because it costs less. Instead, ‘best grains‘ contaminated with mycotoxins and wheat decay were rejected at Italian customs, as it turned out. (6) But the deception continues undisturbed.
‘The best grains…’ Double deception
De Cecco’s new pasta labels flaunt the words ‘the best grains of Italy and the world‘ in large letters on the label front. Thus the great deception to consumers is renewed on both circumstances:
– the idea that Italian grains, mentioned first, are prevalent over foreign grains. A false suggestion as well as contrary to the rules of consumer information, where the evidence attributed to an ingredient entails a duty to specify its quantity in relation to the total, (7)
– the hypothesized superior quality of the ‘best grains,’ supported by extensive narratives on the company website and social networks , is belied by the purchase of semolina, even in 2021, that does not appear to differ from those used by other pasta industries. Contrary to the boasts and product certification, issued in 2004 and renewed until 2022 by DNV GL, that the semolina would be made in-house with an exclusive ‘coarse grain‘ setting.
Filippo Antonio De Cecco and the then vice president of the CSM Giovanni Legnini
‘What is the vice president of the Superior Council of the Judiciary doing at De Cecco? (…) the deep friendship that binds Cavaliere De Cecco to Vice President Giovanni Legnini, since the latter’s days as mayor of Roccamontepiano, gives an explanation for the courtesy visit that Napolitano’s deputy to the Csm wanted to make on a long afternoon back from major commitments in Rome. “He is almost a countryman.”, Filippo Antonio De Cecco introduces him to employees (…).
“He appears to us to be the right man in the right place,” the group chairman resumed after listening to the former undersecretary of the Renzi government, “heis a tenacious Abruzzese, and we recognize in him the concreteness of someone who always puts work before declarations of facade.”‘ (8)
President Filippo Antonio De Cecco had therefore ‘donated‘ to ‘the right man in the right place (…) a work by master Arnaldo Pomodoro titled “The Stele,”‘ the online newspaper Il Centro reported on 10.1.15. (8) A work that some former employees recall having paid about 8,000 euros. And it adds up to other benefits offered to the then v.president of the SJC, the executive-level internship granted to his nephew Piernicola Di Nizio. Corruption for the exercise of function (Criminal Code, Art. 318)?
Filippo Antonio De Cecco and the judiciary in Chieti and Pescara.
The generous ‘gifts’ and prebends to Giovanni Lignini take on a peculiar significance where it is considered that the same – as later emerged from wiretaps between Luca Palamara and Valerio Fracassi, both CSM councilors (9) – allegedly succeeded in having the then heads of the Public Prosecutor’s Office Francesco Testa and president of the Tribunal, Guido Campli, appointed in Chieti, his hometown. About the latter of which other ‘concerns’ have also been raised recently. (10)
The knight Filippo Antonio De Cecco, in order to intimidate a former executive to refrain from taking legal action against him, had hinted at his own influence over the two prosecutors and the two presidents of the Chieti and Pescara Courts, claiming that ‘some times, a little bit for the sake of quiet life, a little bit to keep good especially when we talk about the Court, prosecutors’ offices, etc., certain recommendations are accepted!‘ (5). Thus, ‘countryman‘ Legnini would not be the only strategic ally in the judiciary, according to the Black Knight himself.
Combination, the GIP (Giudice per le Indagini Preliminari) at the Court of Chieti Luca de Ninis has still not ruled-after four months since the hearing-on the disgraceful request of the prosecutor (public prosecutor) Giuseppe Falasca to dismiss the trade fraud case against Filippo Antonio De Cecco. Vicissitudes in themselves worthy of proper investigation. (11)
Filippo Antonio De Cecco and the husband of the deputy prosecutor at the Pescara Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Anna Maria Mantini – another Teatino magistrate with long experience in various Prosecutors’ Offices and Courts in Abruzzo – was promoted to assistant prosecutor at the Pescara Public Prosecutor’s Office in early 2018, when her ‘countryman‘ Giovanni Legnini was still vice president of the CSM. And in November 2020, she was appointed to serve as chief prosecutor on an interim basis. (12)
The husband of Chief Prosecutor Anna Maria Mantini, combination, in turn received a prestigious post in early 2021. Stefano Florio has in fact been appointed manager of F.lli De Cecco di Filippo S.p.A. With a role reportedly undefined, partly because of his background (former employee of Walter Tosto SpA gas area, an industry that produces tanks and other components for industrial plants).
Another combination, at the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Pescara-coordinated by the wife of his newly appointed manager- Filippo Antonio De Cecco is under investigation for serious corporate crimes. In addition to having in turn sued the two former vice presidents Saturnino and Giuseppe Aristide De Cecco (who resigned from all positions in January 2020), former CEO Francesco Fattori, and various other former executives. And he was in turn reported.
The rule of law?
In another republic, the judiciary and the government-after the maxi-fraud and other events that are also likely to impact budgets-would have already commissioned a strategic industry for the country (€ 500 million in sales, 315 million in debts as of 12/31/20). Also for the purpose of securing its approximately 1,000 employees and trade creditors (for € 115 million, as of 12/31/20). As well as shed light on relations with the top leadership of the judiciary itself.
In Italy, the awakening of the rule of law from its long hibernation is confidently awaited.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Marta Strinati. De Cecco threatens the press. Forbidden to say that his pasta is from foreign wheat. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 7/17/20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/de-cecco-minaccia-la-stampa-vietato-dire-che-la-sua-pasta-è-da-grano-estero
(2) Dario Dongo. Wheat origin on pasta label. Three shipwrecks over antitrust fears. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.1.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/origine-grano-in-etichetta-della-pasta-tre-naufragi-per-timore-dell-antitrust
(3) Dario Dongo. De Cecco, alleged wheat origin fraud. Prosecutor’s Office investigation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11/15/20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/de-cecco-frode-presunta-sull-origine-del-grano-indagine-della-procura
(4) Dario Dongo. Spaghetti westerns in the Abruzzese style. Filippo Antonio De Cecco’s film, premiere. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.2.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/spaghetti-western-all-abruzzese-il-film-di-filippo-antonio-de-cecco-in-anteprima
(5) Dario Dongo. Spaghetti westerns in the Abruzzese style. Mr. De Cecco’s pastatrac. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.2.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/spaghetti-western-all-abruzzese-il-pastatrac-del-signor-de-cecco
(6) Dario Dongo. Filippo Antonio De Cecco, more trouble from the USA to Italy. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 4/29/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/filippo-antonio-de-cecco-altri-guai-dagli-usa-all-italia
(7) Dario Dongo. Compound ingredients and QUID on labels, widespread deceptions. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 1.6.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/ingredienti-composti-e-quid-in-etichetta-inganni-diffusi
(8) Andrea Mori. Legnini promotes De Cecco: one of our excellence. The Center. 10.1.15, https://www.ilcentro.it/abruzzo/legnini-promuove-la-de-cecco-una-nostra-eccellenza-1.394773
(9) Simone Di Meo. Legnini placed prosecutor in Chieti unleashing the wrath of the judiciary. The Truth, 11.6.20, https://www.laverita.info/legnini-piazzo-il-procuratore-a-chieti-scatenando-lira-delle-altre-toghe-2646167868.html
(10) Justice, a story of a court (Chieti), a president and a brother delegated to real estate sales. TV Shadowlands (2021). https://www.zonedombratv.it/giustizia-storia-di-un-tribunale-chieti-di-un-presidente-e-di-un-fratello-delegato-alle-vendite-immobiliari/
(11) Dario Dongo. Filippo Antonio De Cecco, maxi-fraud on the origin of wheat. Chieti’s GIP has the floor. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 8.4.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/filippo-antonio-de-cecco-maxi-frode-sull-origine-del-grano-la-parola-al-gip-di-chieti
(12) Mantini regent, 8 months for new pm chief. The Center. 8/28/20, https://www.ilcentro.it/pescara/mantini-reggente-8-mesi-per-il-nuovo-capo-dei-pm-1.2487078
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
