SAN MARINO – We receive and publish: “CIS Bank, eight convictions for criminal association. The truth that RETE has defended for years: we were not visionaries or conspiracy theorists.
There are sentences that take on a meaning that goes far beyond the courtroom. The one pronounced on 5 November 2026 in the Banca CIS trial is one of these. The Court recognized, at first instance, the existence of a criminal conspiracy and pronounced eight sentences:
Daniele Guidi, former CEO of Banca CIS: 5 years and 6 months in prison; Francesco Confuorti: 5 years and 2 months for the crime of association, in addition to the conviction for money laundering, for a total sentence of 8 years due to legal cumulation; Marino Grandoni, former major shareholder of Banca CIS: 4 years; Lorenzo Savorelli, former general director of the Central Bank: 4 years and 4 months; Roberto Moretti, former director of the Central Bank: 4 years and 4 months; Filippo Siotto, former member of the Supervisory Coordination: 4 years and 4 months; Ugo Granata, former member of the Supervisory Coordination: 4 years and 4 months; Alberto Buriani, Law Commissioner (suspended from service): 4 years and 2 months.
This sentence sheds new light on a political season in which RETE denounced and opposed a system of power which today finds important confirmation in the decisions of the judiciary. We fought those battles when it was much easier to look the other way. When we were mocked, isolated, attacked and accused of being visionaries, conspiracy theorists, irresponsible. When Confuorti was described as an obsession of ours and denouncing certain plots meant becoming the target of a campaign of political and personal delegitimization. RETE paid an enormous price: it faced attacks and judicial proceedings, it resisted attempts at isolation and delegitimization. Yet he didn’t back down. However, there remains an issue that cannot be archived together with the sentence: the political responsibilities of that government and that majority which, in those years, endorsed, supported or defended the actions of the power group now at the center of these sentences. Who guaranteed political coverage? Who downplayed the complaints? Who contributed to delegitimizing those who asked for clarity? Who preferred to defend certain balances rather than question what was happening? These are questions that politics has yet to answer. A sentence does not erase political responsibilities, nor does it restore to the country the lost years, the damage suffered and the compromised trust in the institutions.
Today we do not claim a personal victory or ask for revenge. However, we have a political and moral duty to remember which side we were on when choosing was more difficult: on the side of the country. We paid a price for not accepting that silence became the rule and that those who asked for transparency were treated like an enemy. Today’s sentences do not erase what we have suffered, but they make it even more important to reconstruct that season without omissions or mystifications. History cannot be rewritten by delegitimizing those who had the courage to report. And the rule of law is not defended only in words: it is defended by being on the side of legality, even when this costs consensus, power and political convenience. We had that courage. Unfortunately, however, the power dynamics have not changed: the connection between business and politics is still very present, as are the intrigues and dirty deals. We fear that this affair has taught our country little”, concludes RETE.
