Documents sought from the ministry and contractors

The Rome prosecutor's office has delegated the Carabinieri's ROS unit to carry out an order to produce documents from four recipients: the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (Mit), the Dipe/Cipess office, the company Ponte sullo Stretto SpA and the Eurolink consortium. The records sought are those prepared and sent to the Court of Audit (Corte dei Conti) for its review of Cipess resolution 61/2025 and ministerial decree 190 of 1 August 2025. The prosecutors' note places the action within the investigation into the infrastructure project, and says the new material could lead to new entries in the register of suspects. Investigators want the paper trail of how the project was approved, including technical assessments and the figures used in the process.

“Today's investigative activity follows the previous one carried out on 9 June.”

The searches of 9 June

The order extends an investigation that surfaced in June, when carabinieri searched homes and offices and seized phones, electronic devices and documents from the people under investigation. Three people are being investigated: Tommaso Miele, a retired former deputy president of the Court of Audit, Giacomo Francesco Saccomanno, a lawyer who was formerly a board member of Stretto di Messina SpA, and Vincenzo Virgiglio, an entrepreneur from Reggio Calabria. The file concerns suspected corruption and the disclosure and use of official secrets. Saccomanno is also described in the reporting as a former Lega commissioner in Calabria. The timeline below places the 2025 decree, the June searches and the new order in sequence.

What prosecutors allege

Prosecutors allege that the three men tried to influence the Court of Audit's review of the bridge's definitive project, a review that ended in a refusal to clear it. Investigators allege that Miele provided confidential information about the review in exchange for prospects of public posts after his retirement, and one post reportedly targeted was the presidency of the antitrust authority. The suspects were also said to have offered support for posts in public-law bodies after retirement, conditional on his active role in the matter. Intercepted conversations in the file reportedly show Miele disparaging colleagues who had refused the audit clearance, and saying that his government contacts, starting with Matteo Salvini, would have expected him to keep his distance from the project. These are allegations, and the reporting does not describe any court ruling on them.

What comes next

The prosecutors want to examine the procedures and figures linked to the bridge project, a wider scope than the June action. The sequence they describe runs from searches for the suspects' devices and documents to the papers sent to the Court of Audit. Commentary in the reporting says the case concerns possible influence over public decisions rather than the physical construction of the bridge, at least for now. Whether the four recipients comply fully with the order, and whether new suspects are registered, remains open in the reporting.