Here’s how and why Palenzona screwed over the secret Crt pact supporters
What does Fabrizio Palenzona's resignation from the presidency of the Turin-based CRT foundation, shareholder of, among others, Unicredit, Generali and Cdp hide? Francis Walsingham's letter
Dear director,
it took the firecracker thrown by Fabrizio Palenzona to break the somewhat soporific climate of the last few weeks in the world of finance. Palenzona's resignation as president of the Crt foundation – the culmination of an intense and virulent feud that took place within one of the first Italian banking foundations – overshadowed all the other main news. To the point that even important events such as the Tim assembly – where the present absence of Vivendi was highlighted, which allowed the reconfirmation of Pietro Labriola as company head of the group – had to give way to reconstructions of what happened in Turin.
The summary I deduce from reading the newspapers is that Palenzona in recent days has uncovered a sort of "P2" (please refer to the quotation marks, many quotation marks) within the foundation. A pact – a secret association?, ah, knowing it – to which a substantial number of administrative and policy advisors would have joined, with the aim of influencing the choices of the Turin Foundation, assignments and disbursements first and foremost.
Palenzona tried to take action, reporting the rather anomalous pact to the Ministry of Economy – which still supervises credit extraction bodies such as former banking foundations – and incinerating its material drafter, Corrado Bonadeo. It wasn't enough: the members of the agreement, discovered, immediately carried out their instructions.
As? First by helping to torpedo several candidates welcomed by Palenzona when it came to renewing the Board of Directors (according to the Crt statute, the new Board of Directors is chosen by the outgoing councillors). And then, in the board of directors, distrusting the general secretary Andrea Varese and, raising the specter of distrust, trying to make Palenzona a puppet king. A president, that is, a facade, forced to "let it be" and ratify the choices of the board of directors (and in your opinion could Palenzona accept this downsizing?).
Proof of this is the latest round of appointments, in which the members of the board of directors appointed themselves wherever possible (OGR, Equiter, REAM SGR). In a sudden amarcord, many seemed to have suddenly returned to the last months of the reign of Gianni Quaglia, who was quite hostage to the board of directors and in which the previous general secretary Massimo Lapucci had an absolutely important role).
This passage from the article by Claudia Luise – a very scrupulous and informed reporter who I remember if I'm not mistaken as also a former collaborator of Start Magazine – of the Piedmontese newspaper La Stampa is significant: "In the city, more than the full name on the next president, the "prevails" dismay" at the appointments that were decided by a Board of Directors already missing its president, who had already left the session slamming the door. The unanimity that led to the choices, therefore, is between six people, four of whom (Canavesio, Bima, Monti and Di Mascio) had already distrusted the former general secretary, Andrea Varese. “The voters themselves voted,” is the poisonous comment. And so the innovation entrepreneur, Davide Canavesio, becomes both president and CEO of Ogr, ousting Massimo Lapucci. The deputy is the notary Caterina Bima. Canavesio is also vice president of Equiter (the president is chosen by Compagnia di San Paolo). Antonello Monti evicts Giovanni Quaglia from Ream and always has the notary as his deputy. While Anna Maria Di Mascio lands at the helm of the Ulaop Foundation".
In essence, dear director: what emerges from the matter is that Palenzona did not feel like being roasted by the board of directors, even though there were only a few months left until the end of his current term of office, and he resigned with a very rough letter which I am sending you as an attachment and which is added to the complaint sent to the Ministry of Economy, accompanied by several rather "heavy" legal opinions (the civil one bears the signature of the well-known and influential jurist Andrea Zoppini, also undersecretary of Justice in the past, while on the criminal side two professors have tried their hand at it, Sacchi from Milan and Riverditi from Turin).
At this point it's a question of understanding what will happen. Among the well-informed, two basic positions stand out. Some think that the Mef will not be able to ignore the very harsh complaint that came from Turin, much less the sensational gesture of Palenzona; even if some journalistic reconstructions attest that the Treasury cares little or nothing about the affair reported by Varese and Palenzona's tough resignation letter. The others, perfidiously, say they are convinced that in Turin no one will dare to say a word, and underline that the supervision of the foundations at the ministry is currently entrusted to a general director, Marcello Sala, who is very loyal to Giuseppe Guzzetti. Not really a friend of Palenzona, let's say.
See you next time and best regards
Francis Walsingham
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/crt-palenzona-pattisti/ on Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:26:18 +0000.