In his briefing to the Chamber on November 5, Giuseppe Conte hoped to definitively close the debate on his alleged conflict of interest in the Retelit-golden power case. Modestly, StartMagazine pointed out that perhaps the Prime Minister was overly optimistic. And so it seems.
Everything revolves around the opinion provided by lawyer Conte in mid-May 2018 to the company Fiber 4.0 regarding the possibility that the government would exercise golden power over Retelit. Which the government he soon presided over – although the Prime Minister was absent from the Council of Ministers meeting that decided on the matter – actually did.
The majority shareholders of Retelit have filed an appeal. On December 4, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court will discuss it. As Corsera points out, “if the golden power were canceled, Retelit would soar on the stock market (it has already gained +17% in the last month and is now worth 280 million) and could be sold at higher prices. Even to foreign entities.”
The political game is still open. Many questions remain. Some were already raised that evening of November 5 at Montecitorio by the Lega deputy Giulio Centemero. One was addressed last Monday by Quarta Repubblica. The Rete 4 program reconstructed the frantic stock market activity in May of the telecom company’s shares, highlighting the coincidences between the stock’s collapse just after the pro veritate opinion written by lawyer Conte for Fiber 4.0 of Raffaele Mincione, who was interested in gaining majority control of the company.
Let’s go step by step. On May 16, Retelit’s stock crashes on the stock market. From May 16 to 21, it loses about 22%, equivalent to approximately 77 million euros. What triggered these losses? “Someone holding shares wanted to get rid of them. Maybe they had some insider information on the stock,” explains Quarta Repubblica professional trader Paolo Serafini.
The Rete 4 report reconstructs the morning of May 16: “Before the markets opened, someone gave the order to sell significant shares of the stock and did so in a way to avoid attracting the attention of regulatory authorities and to prevent suspensions by spreading the sales throughout the day.”
Strange? Since 2017, Retelit’s stock had been steadily rising, with a peak precisely between April and May 2018. At that point, no one could foresee such a collapse. It is documented: on May 11, quarterly estimates were positive. Yet on the 16th, the decline began.
What happened in those days?
There were no upheavals on the corporate front. Negotiations on the formation of the yellow-green government were ongoing, and although the spread was rising, it was at 130 basis points. The markets gave no particular signals.
The only significant event seems to be the delivery of the pro veritate opinion signed by lawyer Giuseppe Conte for Fiber 4.0 of financier Mincione. The consultancy concerned the question: is it possible for the government to exercise golden power over Retelit? That is, to impose a special constraint on a strategic company in the communications and fiber optics sector?
For lawyer Conte, the answer is yes. The document is dated May 14. On the same day, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that the name Conte was that of the candidate premier for the Five Star Movement and Lega. Thus, the one who would lead the new government called to decide on the golden power.
Why does Mincione – who was using Vatican funds for the Retelit deal – move? Corsera summarizes: the company had just passed under the control of a Libyan-German consortium, which had defeated him. The issue: it had not been communicated to the government that control had passed to the Libyan state company Lptic and the German fund Axxion. So in April 2018, the financier filed a complaint. And in May, he requested two opinions. One from the law firm Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli (Gop) on May 9, and another from Conte, who had previously worked for Gop. Corriere della Sera reports that “Gop’s firm states they did not advise Mincione on the opportunity to seek other lawyers.”
The opinions of Gop and Conte are nevertheless similar. Lawyer Conte adds that the April Retelit shareholders’ meeting can be annulled. It is a good card to play for Mincione. The professional assignment – Conte said on November 5 at the Chamber – was accepted at a “time when I myself could not imagine that shortly thereafter a government presided over by me would be born, which would then be called to decide on Retelit.”
The question: could Conte’s opinion, dated May 14 and officially released on the 16th, have triggered the fall of Retelit’s stock? For Centemero, there is no doubt: “Sensitive information was leaked and could have influenced its trend.” On the 16th, traded volumes soared, peaking at the end of May and remaining high immediately after the appointment of Prime Minister Conte.
Coincidences?
Quarta Repubblica reconstructed the events of May 16. At 9:40 a.m., Fiber 4.0 sent an email to the Prime Minister’s office, attaching lawyer Conte’s opinion. It was at that point that the document began circulating in financial circles. And Retelit started to fall. Shares were sold.
But why did Retelit fall on the stock market after the lawyer’s opinion? That is: who had an interest in selling? And why did that news – about the opinion concerning golden power – induce selling or cause the stock price to drop?
A financial source familiar with the dossier responds to Start: “Those who become aware of the opinion sell.” They reveal: “On the 15th, Mincione sent it by email to the Retelit board and some shareholders.” Those who sell “are scared that the next likely prime minister (who also signed the opinion) will apply the golden power.” Retelit’s shares had risen with the acquisition by Libyan shareholders (Lybian Post Technology Company), grouped in Luxembourg’s Bousval Sca, and the German investment fund Axxion under the coordination of Shareholder Value Management (Svm). The professional explains to StartMagazine: “Those who want to take over the whole company or the majority at a low price (because sales caused the stock to lose value), such as a possible Mincione consortium, sell in part.”
Although in previous months stock sales were entrusted to intermediaries such as investment banks, in those May days trading volumes occurred through electronic brokers allowing greater anonymity. Sales started like clockwork at 9 a.m. on the 16th.
Centemero asked at Montecitorio: who formally commissioned the drafting of the opinion to the future premier? Conte declared he did not speak directly with Mincione nor with others at Fiber’s top. So with whom? The Lega member asks: “Isn’t it strange that a minister in pectore and university professor did not know the client of a consultancy for a new client for whom he drafted a single opinion?”
And again, why so much emphasis on the premier’s non-participation in the Council of Ministers that decided on the golden power? Okay: he was not present at the Council of Ministers, but not even in an adjacent room at Palazzo Chigi, rather he was flying on a mission abroad.
A week ago, in an interview with La Verità, former minister Gian Marco Centinaio (Lega) revealed that the ministers present at the June 7 council that decided on the Retelit case had not been informed about a possible conflict of interest of the premier. Conte shifts responsibility to Matteo Salvini, who chaired that first Council of Ministers: “All decisions and assessments on the matter were entrusted to him.”
Reporting to Montecitorio, Conte II recalled having written a letter on June 6 to point out that he abstains and will abstain from measures concerning Retelit. Only that letter was sent to the secretary-general. And, according to Centinaio, it did not reach any of the ministers. He explains to La Verità: “If Conte had been present, abstaining, we would have become aware of the conflict. But he was in Canada. Voting knowing the conflict existed is one thing, voting without knowing it is another.” The Retelit issue returned to the Council of Ministers’ attention also in August. As the Prime Minister illustrated to the Chamber, on that occasion he also wrote to the secretary-general declaring his intention to abstain from any form of discussion, delegating Vice Salvini.
Centemero recalls, however, that the presentation of the golden power measure should have been properly by the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, then Luigi Di Maio. The political leader of the premier. The Lega deputy presses: “The previous inquiry and the subsequent execution should be analyzed, along with the parties involved.”
Agreed: the Competition and Market Authority recognized that Conte did not incur a conflict of interest. It is a pity that the Authority’s opinion was not solicited at the time by the premier, but by the Democratic Party and then Codacons. Would it not have been a more elegant gesture for the Prime Minister to ask to be evaluated rather than wait for initiatives from the then opposition and a consumer association?
Also because coincidences are, indeed, coincidences. There is nothing illegal. Yet they are obvious coincidences.
A small, partial summary, to line them up.
February 27, 2018. Luigi Di Maio presents lawyer Giuseppe Conte as candidate for Minister of Public Administration in case of victory in the March 4 elections. Conte resigns the same day from the Administrative Justice Council.
April 2018. Raffaele Mincione files a complaint. He contests the failure to notify the government that control of Retelit had passed to the Libyan state company Lptic and the German fund Axxion.
May 9, 2018. Mincione’s Fiber 4.0 requests an opinion from the law firm Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli (Gop) and later from lawyer Giuseppe Conte, to assess the possibility that the government could impose a special constraint on a strategic company in the communications and fiber optics sector. That is, the golden power.
May 13, 2018. Conte meets in a Milan hotel with Luigi Di Maio, Vincenzo Spadafora, Giancarlo Giorgetti, and Matteo Salvini. The leaders of the emerging government propose him as premier. A leap in status compared to a simple ministry.
To quote Manzoni: “It is told that the Prince of Condé slept deeply the night before the day of Rocroi: but, firstly, he was very tired; secondly, he had already given all the necessary orders and decided what to do in the morning.” Who knows how Conte spent the night between May 13 and 14 in that Milan hotel. After the meeting with the leaders, he apparently enjoyed a football match on TV. He must have had thoughts. The proposal from the majority parties to appoint him premier is something that would shake the nerves and cause sleeplessness to anyone, at least from excitement. In any case, in the following hours, Conte, as a good professional, honors his commitments and completes the consultancy for Fiber.
May 14, 2018. Conte sends his work to the company linked to Mincione. The same day, the press leaks the news of his promotion as premier in pectore for the yellow-green coalition.
May 16, 2018. The frantic trading of Retelit shares on the stock market begins. It will last long.
May 21, 2018. M5s and Lega propose Conte to the President of the Republic. After a few days of turmoil, on the 31st he goes to the Quirinale with the list of ministers. Sergio Mattarella appoints him premier. On June 5, he swears in at the Quirinale and appears in Parliament. Not even time to greet all the staff at Palazzo Chigi and the new premier boards a plane to Canada where he is awaited at the G7.
June 7, 2018. The first Council of Ministers is held without Conte. It is chaired by the eldest deputy, Matteo Salvini. In that first Council, the golden power on Retelit is decided.
December 4, 2019. The Regional Administrative Court will discuss the appeal against the golden power.
