Italy judge acquits Autostrade CEO in 2013 motorway accident case

[January 11, 2019]  MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - An Italian judge on Friday acquitted Autostrade per l'Italia CEO Giovanni Castellucci in a case regarding a 2013 accident that killed 40 people on a motorway run by the company.

Prosecutors had asked for a jail sentence of 10 years for Castellucci, who is also chief executive of Benetton-controlled infrastructure group Atlantia <ATL.MI>.

Castellucci has already said he will be stepping down as CEO of Autostrade after a 13-year tenure.

The 59-year old manager is also under investigation for multiple manslaughter after a bridge operated by the company collapsed in Genoa in August, killing 43 people.

After the Genoa disaster, the Italian government blamed Autostrade for poor maintenance of the viaduct and threatened to revoke all of Autostrade's motorway concessions in the country.

The company, which runs 3,000 km of toll roads across Italy, generates more than 60 percent of Atlantia's core earnings.

(Reporting by Francesca Landini and Stefano Bernabei; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.