The investigation by the Benevento prosecutor's office that began with former municipal manager Gennaro Santamaria is now described as broader than its starting point, touching multiple areas of municipal administration and extending to entrepreneurs, local officials, and professional relationships beyond the City of Benevento.

According to the accusatory reconstruction reported by NTR24, the alleged scheme involved requests for money linked to building permit files, public works, hiring, professional assignments, and dealings with cooperatives. The same reporting also points to hydrogeological works and alleged political financing. LabTV reports that the case, which began with Santamaria's arrest in flagrante, later widened to several public-administration sectors, local officials and businesspeople, with 17 additional people reported as under investigation.

All of the charges reported remain investigative hypotheses and have not been finally established. The documents acquired do not confirm which charges have been formally notified to each person under investigation, and neither the text of any order by the preliminary-investigations judge nor the outcome of any evidentiary hearing on Santamaria's statements was available.

Names reported and the alleged 50,000-euro payment

NTR24 names among those emerging in the reporting Renato Parente, president of the city council, as well as municipal managers already known in the case and Maurizio Perlingieri. The research does not provide the formal charges attributed to each individual.

The prosecution is also reported to allege a payment of 50,000 euros said to have been intended for the election expenses of Noi di Centro. Clemente Mastella denies that the party requested or received that sum. The political statements on the alleged financing are conflicting and do not resolve the judicial question.

Political fallout at Palazzo Mosti

The case has taken on a political dimension at Palazzo Mosti, Benevento's city hall. Il Mattino documents questions from the opposition about Santamaria's public and electoral activity, including the reported use of institutional facilities and channels during election initiatives.

The debate, as documented, centers on oversight and administrative continuity: how municipal offices are supervised and how management responsibilities are reassigned after Santamaria's suspension. It does not, on the available record, establish broader conclusions about the functioning of the offices concerned.

Administrative response: duties reassigned

The City of Benevento has formally confirmed Santamaria's suspension from his managerial functions. Under mayoral decrees on new management assignments, his responsibilities were transferred to Secretary General Riccardo Feola, according to the municipal notice.

That step addresses the immediate continuity of the departments involved while the investigation into alleged corruption continues.

What is established and what is still missing

Established from the sources:

  • The inquiry is presented as wider than the initial episode involving Santamaria and as covering several municipal sectors.
  • Opposition members have raised documented questions about institutional resources and electoral activity.
  • The municipality has confirmed the suspension and the redistribution of Santamaria's managerial duties.

Not yet verifiable from the acquired documents:

  • The total number of people under investigation and how the different press reconstructions align, which requires confirmation from judicial records.
  • The precise charges formally notified to each person named in press coverage.
  • The judicial assessment of the conflicting claims about the alleged 50,000-euro election payment.

For readers in Benevento and the Sannio area, the practical points to follow are the next judicial acts, if any are made public by the prosecution or the preliminary-investigations judge, and any further administrative measures issued by the City concerning the offices named in the reporting.