Campania Healthcare Corruption Probe Leads to Arrest of Soresa Chief

An extensive corruption and public procurement investigation led by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Naples resulted in 13 arrests, including Tommaso Casillo, the president of the board of directors for Soresa, the regional procurement center for Campania. The operation, conducted by the Guardia di Finanza and the Coast Guard investigative unit, targets alleged illicit agreements tied to major public tenders and healthcare services.

Investigators allege that Casillo accepted bribes across two separate matters to favor business figures Mario and Marco Langella. In one instance, authorities claim he received a 100,000-euro bribe to advantage a company in a tender worth nearly 24 million euros for renting hospital stretchers. In another, he allegedly accepted 20,000 euros as part of a broader 150,000-euro corrupt scheme connected to a 29.6-million-euro contract for urban waste collection and transport in Somma Vesuviana.

The waste management contract, awarded in December 2025, was allegedly manipulated from its inception. Prosecutors state that a former municipal official provided the Langella entrepreneurs with unreleased draft documents to adjust competition requirements. Furthermore, Casillo reportedly instructed the head of the adjudication commission on specific scores to award, while other officials allegedly provided confidential information for financial compensation.

A separate branch of the investigation focuses on Giuseppe Russo, the general director of the Asl Napoli 3 Sud health authority. Russo is suspected of corruption for allegedly intervening to secure service contracts for the Langella enterprises at three private healthcare facilities. In exchange, the entrepreneurs purportedly agreed to direct clinical examinations for their employees to a specific laboratory indicated by Russo, an agreement investigators believe was implemented in the spring of 2026.

Following the arrests, regional leaders moved quickly to address the governance of Soresa. Campania Governor Roberto Fico announced the immediate convocation of a shareholders' assembly to overhaul the leadership of the regional body, emphasizing the need for a complete break from past management and strict adherence to transparency and legality.

"We do not consider partial interventions or simple adjustment solutions to be sufficient; it is necessary to open a completely new phase based on rigorous criteria of transparency, competence, responsibility, and control," Fico stated, noting that essential health services must continue to function while fully respecting the work of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the political fallout has intensified as opposition parties seize on the scandal. Regional center-right secretaries criticized the administration and demanded the immediate external commissioning of the Asl Napoli 3 Sud health authority, arguing that swift and decisive intervention is required to address deep-seated vulnerabilities in the regional healthcare system.