Angelino Alfano, the Regeni family asks to “clarify its relations with Egypt”: from the Farnesina to the law firm that collaborates with the former al-Sisi leaders

“I ask what relationship does Alfano now have, who is now a lawyer, with his law firm with Egypt.” Paola Deffendi, mother of Giulio Regeni, the Friulian researcher who passed away on January 25, 2016 and was found lifeless on February 3 of the same year along the highway that since Cairo leads to Alexandria, brings up the former Foreign Minister, Angelino Alfano, speaking in front of the parliamentary commission of inquiry on the death of his son. Words that Deffendi pronounces referring to the new, no longer institutional, task entrusted to Alfano a few days after the end of the experience with the government Gentiloni, exactly June 30, 2018: consultant for the new team of the law firm Bonelli Heir specialized in Public International Law & Economic Diplomacy with focus on the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East.

An announcement, that of the law firm, which arrived just 30 days after Alfano left the Foreign Ministry and simultaneously with another novelty concerning the interests of Bonelli Erede in Egypt: the creation of a new partnership with the Egyptian Bahaa-Eldin legal office to strengthen “assistance to Italian and international companies operating in Africa and the Middle East”. To do this, he joins the Bonelli Erede team as consultant and managing partner the Economist Ziad Bahaa-Eldin. The Egyptian professional is above all theformer deputy prime minister, until January 30, 2014, of the Cairo executive born after the 2013 coup d’état of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Character well introduced to the military establishment at the helm of the country for seven years, even before the kidnapping and killing of Giulio Regeni.

When Alfano sent the new ambassador in August 2017 Giampaolo Cantini in Egypt after the withdrawal of its predecessor, Maurizio Massari, a choice strongly contested by those who asked for a firmer stance towards the al-Sisi regime after the country’s secret service attempts on the Regeni affair, justified his decision “in the light of the developments registered in the field of cooperation among the investigative bodies of Italy and Egypt on the murder of Giulio Regeni “, with the commitment by the then government” to to clarify on the tragic death of Julius, by sending an authoritative interlocutor to Cairo who will have the task of contributing, through contacts with the Egyptian authorities, to strengthening judicial cooperation and, consequently, to search for truth“.

But the intent declared by Alfano has not, according to the Regeni family, led to greater cooperation neither on the Egyptian side nor, on the part of the Italian embassy in the North African capital: “The Italian ambassador to Cairo Cantini for a long time does not answer us – they told the commission of inquiry – evidently pursues other objectives with respect to truth and justice, while successfully pursuing initiatives on business and trade between the two countries “. Hence the request of the family to clarify the role played by the former minister Alfano who, although not part of the team of lawyers sent locally by Bonelli Erede, became part of it, just 30 days after the end of his institutional mandate , of the team that is in charge of assisting “companies, states, bodies, institutions of the Mediterranean area, Africa and the Middle East for encourage investment“.

The case of Libyan fighters who disappeared from San Raffaele
Another case in which Alfano’s international relations and private assignments intertwine is that of the disappearance of two Libyan fighters under treatment at San Raffaele of Milan, owned by the San Donato Group of which the former minister is president, who, suspected of having stabbed one of their compatriots being treated in the same facility, were picked up by two cars and, despite being investigated, probably repatriated.

The story begins in the summer, when the San Donato Group has presented among the new initiatives that of an opening of the holding abroad, offering its skills to start collaborations with foreign governments, especially on the Middle Eastern and African market. “There are governments that are launching health plans and need experience and know how which are the basis of the Milanese model whose success is now recognized “, they announced by presenting the project at the beginning of July. On the same day and for this purpose, the new governance of the group was also presented: Alfano was chosen as the new president. The former minister, in particular, has also been instructed to act as group ambassador abroad, given the skills and relationships developed during his experience at the Farnesina.

A few days after his inauguration, the agreement entered into in the spring between the San Donato Group and theLibyan embassy at the Holy See which calls for the sending of Libyan wounded, including militiamen loyal to the National Accord Government of Fayez al-Sarraj, to be treated in the Milanese hospital, staying in the meantime at theRafael hotel in via Olgettina, near the hospital. Militiamen who, once treated, will be sent back to their home at the expense of the Tripoli government.

But the deal returned to the pages of newspapers in late January, when The print has spread the news of a stabbing against one of these fighters by two other Libyans treated in the Milanese facility and on which the Prosecutor has opened ainvestigation. According to the first reconstructions of the investigators, the attack took place on January 15 inside the hotel, with the injured man who was then treated in the hospital emergency room. It is there, after receiving the necessary treatment, that the man named the two attackers. Law enforcement officers then inspected their rooms, but there was no trace of them. It will only be discovered after the two have been taken from two cars and hurry to Rome where, presumably, they were boarded on a flight with destination Tripoli. A fact on which the Prosecutor has yet to clarify, as well as on the specifics of the agreement between the Libyan embassy and the San Donato Group, given that two people accused of being brought out of national borders were accused of aggravated lesions. Crime committed on Italian soil.

Twitter: @GianniRosini

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