Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Three precautionary disqualification measures issued against a mortuary operator and two representatives of funeral companies

Milan, September 30 2021 – Three precautionary measures were issued by the GIP Stefania Donadeo prohibiting the suspension from the exercise of the public service of a mortuary operator of the Asst Fatebenefratelli Sacco and the prohibition from carrying out the activity of funeral director for two employees of honors in Milan and Baranzate.

The investigations, conducted by the local police of Milan and coordinated by the public prosecutor's office of Milan, arose from four complaints, one of which from the same general management of the ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, presented to the local police and forwarded to the offices of the public prosecutor's office.

In particular, the complaints denounced confidential attitudes between funeral directors and mortuary operators, who not only allowed the undertakers themselves access to the mortuary without there being a request from the relatives of the deceased (as required by the Company Regulations), but they also gave them the documentation relating to the deaths and received money in exchange.

Conversations intercepted starting in February 2021 proved indicative of a widespread corrupt practice. In particular, PNLC, a mortuary operator in charge of a public service (57 years old), continuously carried out conduct contrary to the provisions of the "Company Regulations for intra-hospital deaths and for access to mortuary rooms" of the ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, receiving cash for carry out acts contrary to official duties: he communicated deaths that occurred in hospital directly to the funeral home, directed family members to specific funeral homes, also boasting non-existent agreements with the Municipality of Milan which would have guaranteed controlled prices, and allowed access to funeral home staff and mortuaries.

From the interceptions, serious indications of guilt emerged against PNLC, CEO (38 years old) and AG (29 years old), which led the investigating judge to detect a concrete danger of repetition of crimes of the same type, both due to the multiple circumstances in which the crimes took place and for the personality of the defendants, who demonstrated particular boldness.

The mortuary operator continuously consulted the deceased register and carried out a real sorting of the bodies, on the basis of an unfounded territorial jurisdiction, in collaboration with the employees of the two funeral agencies, who paid for his intermediation. Furthermore, everything was documented after the alarm spread by the management of the Sacco Hospital, making the suspects believe they were completely ignorant of the initiatives of the hospital management.