MILAN (Reuters) -A Milan court on Friday freed the founder of real estate firm Coima SGR from house arrest imposed over an inquiry into alleged crimes in Milan’s urban planning, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The court ordered the removal of the precautionary measure imposed on Manfredi Catella on July 31, without issuing any alternative restrictions, the sources said.
Coima and Catella were not immediately available for comment. Catella handed over his CEO powers at Coima, one of Italy’s biggest property developers, following his house arrest.
The inquiry, led by Milan prosecutors, involves senior city hall officials including Mayor Giuseppe Sala. It focuses on dealings that helped fuel a real estate boom in Italy’s financial capital over the past 10 years.
All the people under investigation have denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, the Milan court freed a city councillor and two other people initially placed under house arrest.
The Milan property market took off from around 2015, when the Expo international exhibition acted as a catalyst that progressively transformed the city into a hot spot for developers from Italy and abroad.
The investigation was triggered by complaints from local residents who objected to the surge in multi-storey buildings, and has uncovered alleged abuses in the fast-tracking of building permits.
Construction activity in Milan stalled after the investigation kicked off in 2022.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi and Elvira Pollina, additional reporting by Claudia Cristoferi; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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