Milan-Cortina: Court of Auditors investigates Foundation’s expenses

Milan, 12 March (LaPresse) – The Regional Prosecutor at the Court of Auditors for Lombardy, Paolo Evangelista, has announced that the office has already opened a “preliminary investigation” into certain funds and expenses for the 2026 Winter Olympics and the Milan-Cortina Foundation, but that the Constitutional Court’s decision, expected in May, on the public or private nature of the games’ organising body could have “repercussions” on the investigation. On 5 May, the Council was called upon by the Milan investigating magistrate, Patrizia Nobile, who accepted the request of public prosecutors Francesco Cajani and Giovanni Gobbis to forward the documents, to rule on the constitutional illegitimacy of the government’s decree-law which in 2024 reaffirmed the private nature of the Milano Cortina Foundation, thereby nullifying the charges already brought against some of its managers and external companies such as Deloitte for bid rigging and corruption, offences that involve the participation of public officials or the rigging of public tenders. The investigation would be closed “if the alleged damage to the treasury concerns a private individual, suffered by a private entity”, explained Evangelista, without going into the merits of the allegations. “If, on the other hand, it concerns funds intended for the construction of public institutions or a sports facility and this money has not been spent correctly, there is room for our findings”, he concluded.