How cd Mion have kept silent say victims' relatives

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 22 - Relatives of the 43 victims of the August 14,2018 Genoa bridge disaster said they were astonished that a former executive for highways company ASPI did not say that he knew there was a risk the Morandi viaduct could collapse eight years before it did.
    "I wonder how one can keep quiet when one has information as serious as this in one's hands and how certain people can sleep soundly," said Egle Possetti, president of the Morandi Bridge victims' remembrance committee, after former highways company ASPI exec Gianni Mion, the former CEO of Benetton family holding company Edizione and a former member of the boards of ASPI and its ex-parent company Atlantia, said the issue was raised at a meeting in 2010.
    "If I had been in his place and had known the state of the infrastructure I would not have kept quiet and I would have played devil's advocate and I would also have made sure that the problem emerged. Hopefully someone will pay." Mion said former ASPI CEO Giovanni Castellucci, ex General Manager Riccardo Mollo and the late Gilberto Benetton were among the people who took part in the meeting, along with officials from ASPI's maintenance arm SPEA.
    "It emerged that the bridge had an original design defect and that there was a collapse risk," Mion said.
    "I asked if someone could certify its safety and Riccardo Mollo replied 'there's the self-certification'.
    "I didn't say anything and I worried about it.
    "It was simple: either you closed it or an external (body) certified it.
    "I didn't do anything and it is my greatest regret".
    In total, 59 people are on trial, including the former heads and technical officials of ASPI and SPEA, former and current transport ministry managers and other civil servants.
    The charges range from culpable failure to comply with one's duty for workplace safety to multiple culpable homicide.
    ASPI and SPEA are no longer involved in the criminal trial after a plea bargain to pay damages of around 30 million euros.
    The remains of the Morandi bridge were demolished and another viaduct designed by Genoese architect Renzo Piano opened in August 2020 to take its place.
    Mion added that he had had the feeling that no one controlled or checked anything.
    "A mistake was made by ASPIi when it bought SPEA, the company should have been within ANAS or the ministry, it should have remained public. The controller could not be the controlled one", he said.
    "After the interceptions and the collapse in the Bertè tunnel (A26, 30 December 2019, ed.), he added, "I had the feeling that no one controlled anything.
    "My idea is that there was a collapse of the internal and external control system, there was no trace of the ministry. My opinion, reading what was emerging, was that no one was controlling anything". (ANSA).