Tempa Rossa is a large fossil fuel field located in Basilicata. Here is a summary of previous episodes, starting with the role of former minister Guidi.
Tempa Rossa is an oil field located in the upper Sauro valley, in the heart of the Basilicata region. The project extends mainly across the territory of the municipality of Corleto Perticara, in the province of Potenza, where five wells and the future treatment centre are situated — that is, assuming the project resumes following the judicial stop. Three further wells and an LPG (liquefied propane gas) storage centre are planned in the surrounding areas.
The field is managed 50 per cent by the French oil company Total. The other half is shared between the Japanese company Mitsui and the Anglo-Dutch company Shell. The projected daily production capacity at full operation is approximately 50,000 barrels of oil, 230,000 cubic metres of natural gas, 240 tonnes of LPG and 80 tonnes of sulphur.
Discovered in 1989, the Tempa Rossa field lies in the heart of a region of high tourist value for the beauty of its landscapes; it extends across a geological area marked by not-insignificant seismic activity and a complex hydrogeological network (as Total itself states, on its website).
Tempa Rossa itself is the subject of one of the three strands of the investigation by the Potenza public prosecutor's office divided between the alleged unlawful disposal of waste (oil processing by-products) at the Eni facility in Viggiano (Potenza). The other strand concerns the port of Augusta, in Sicily, where unlawful exchange of favours is alleged. The part of the investigation relating to Tempa Rossa concerns the process that led to the authorisation of works at this facility.
Gianluca Gemelli is the name that led Federica Guidi to resign from her post as Minister of Economic Development. The businessman, in fact, features in both the investigation into the port of Augusta and that into Tempa Rossa, and is Guidi's life partner.
According to the prosecution, Gemelli committed the offence of unlawful influence peddling because, by exploiting his cohabiting relationship with the minister, he allegedly obtained promises and the requirements and qualifications necessary to participate in tenders for works at the Tempa Rossa extraction facility.
According to telephone intercepts, Gemelli was allegedly reassured by the former minister regarding the insertion of an amendment into the Stability Law that would have favoured his business interests. This is the amendment of December 2014, delivered by the Ministry of Economic Development headed by Federica Guidi, which renders "strategic for the national interest" all works connected to oil and gas extraction activities. A status that greatly simplifies the approval process for works and gives the government the ability to have the final say on the construction of such works, potentially overriding the views of local authorities.
In the intercept in question, Guidi also cited the agreement of her colleague Maria Elena Boschi, Minister for Constitutional Reforms. The public prosecutors handling the Potenza prosecutor's office investigation questioned Boschi for two hours on 4 April at Palazzo Chigi, the seat of the Italian government, in the capacity of a person with knowledge of the facts. The Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, ultimately claimed responsibility for the insertion of the amendment, taking on political responsibility for it and placing himself at the disposal of the judiciary. The Lucanian prosecutor's office, however, denied any intention to question him.