Bandecchi: 'the bugs in the Town Hall are a political-criminal affair'

"The equipment found unfortunately does not belong to the Public Prosecutor's Office. We are therefore dealing with a political-criminal case": this is the statement made by the mayor of Terni and president of the Province, Stefano Bandecchi, speaking to ANSA following the discovery of several listening devices inside the municipal headquarters at Palazzo Spada.

"They were found in the offices of councillors and we handed them over to the Carabinieri, filing a report about the incident," he added.

According to the mayor, "in this specific case, the equipment is not the kind used by the Prosecutor's Office." "The situation is therefore becoming worrying," he added, "because, as I had already said, if it had been a judicial authority check, it would have fallen within an institutional function that the Prosecutor's Office carries out as it sees fit. Instead, we are faced with a political-criminal case, because if there are bugs carefully and accurately installed in the rooms of the Municipality of Terni, it is clear that the problem becomes something different and goes beyond personal factors, touching on political and criminal aspects."

"We have already filed a report with the Carabinieri and handed over the material found," the mayor continued. "In the Town Hall we will try to carry out an even more thorough 'sweep'," he added, "because at the moment the rooms of Palazzo Spada cannot be considered safe for discussing serious political matters. Clearly, a series of doubts now arise concerning all those who have had and currently have access to the municipal offices. The work carried out in installing the devices was meticulous, took time, and there is certainly also a device within the premises capable of recording what was intercepted. Equipment that could also be located outside the building, even though those who detected the presence of the bugs claim there could be an internal 'control room' capable of listening to multiple areas remotely. In the coming days we will look to better understand the situation."

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