A judge in Italy on Thursday ordered 59 people to stand trial for the 2018 Genoa bridge collapse, but approved a nearly 30 million euro settlement between Autostrade per l`Italia and Spea.
The bridge collapse killed 43 people and shone a spotlight on the poor state of Italy's infrastructure and the role of Autostrade (ASPI), the private highway company accused of failing to maintain the major viaduct.
Judge Paola Faggioni ruled that the operator and the company Spea, both subsidiaries of the Italian infrastructure group Atlantia, controlled by the Benetton family, must pay the state €29 million.
"It's good news, as the request for a settlement looks like an admission of guilt," Egle Posetti, a representative of a group of victims' relatives, told Agence France-Presse.
"But it's also sad because it's money that could have been spent on maintenance to prevent the collapse in the first place," said Posetti, whose sister died along with her husband and their two children when their car plummeted 45 metres in August 2018.
Faggioni ruled in favor of the prosecution's request to try 59 people, including the former head of Atlantia, Giovanni Castellucci, and officials from Spea, which was in charge of inspections on the bridge.
The list also includes several officials from the Italian Ministry of Transport.
The first hearing is scheduled for July 7, with charges including manslaughter, negligence and wilful destruction.
[BR][BR]In their final report on the disaster investigation, released last year, prosecutors highlighted "incomplete" and "inadequate" inspections, according to reports. They noted, for example, that the bridge's piers were inspected from below, with binoculars, rather than up close.
In a statement agreeing with the settlement with Autostrade, prosecutors said the amount "corresponds to the cost savings made by the company through the omission of maintenance that would have prevented" the disaster, according to Genoa's Il Secolo XIX newspaper.
Autostrade "performed, or in any case, has provided full compensation for all the damages caused to the victims' relatives," he said.
The Moarandi motorway, hailed as an engineering marvel when it opened in 1967, gave way during heavy rain.
The Benetton family came under enormous pressure after the disaster to hand over control of its toll company, which manages nearly half of Italy's motorway network.
Atlantia agreed last year to sell its controlling stake in Autostrade to a consortium including state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), as well as investment funds Blackstone and Macquarie.
Source: CNA
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