ADIR - L'altro diritto

ISSN 1827-0565

The Romiti trial

Chiara Ruffino, 2000

(Abstract)

Recently, and unnoticed, the trial against the tycoon Francesco Paolo Mattioli and the ex FIAT manager Cesare Romiti, finally came to its end.

This research investigates this long and important trial, trying in its first chapter to describe the events through the decisions of the magistrate for the preliminary investigations and of the Court of Appeal. The events of the FIAT group are described within that "background corruption" that conditioned many Italian calls for tenders. In its first century of its history the FIAT group has been investigated many times, but never sentenced. On the contrary the "Tangentopoli" (Bribesville) earthquake reached also this prestigious group, implicating more and more employees and business areas.

This research analyses the FIAT defensive strategy through the explanatory framework provided by some business fraud scholars. In particular Sutherland first studied the crimes committed by elements of the leisure class, distinguishing himself from his contemporary sociologists.

The second part of the research tests the explanatory power, in relation to the FIAT defensive strategy, of some of the theories previously discussed, and in particular of Cohen "negative theory" and of Bonazzi "scapegoat theory".

The first theory has been used to discuss the events and the interpretations of those events of the involved people. The second theory has been tested as a framework to understand roles and connections of the people involved in the trial.