Gambit

aka IPOTESI DI REATO, SUSPECTED CRIMINAL OFFENCE

Full of energy, Jörg Sambeth takes up his new post as technical director of Givaudan, a company belonging to the Swiss Hoffmann La-Roche conglomerate. The customs and practices at management level alienate him and conditions in some of the factories for which he bears technical responsibility are shocking. But he is convinced he will be able to get things under control.

In 1976, out of the blue, reality strikes: there is an explosion at the small Icmesa factory in the northern Italian town of Seveso. A sinister poison flows out of the reactor and triggers a devastating dioxin disaster which affects people and the environment. Children in particular suffer acute chemical skin burns, the authorities evacuate the inhabitants, 77 000 animals perish or are culled.

After the accident, Jörg Sambeth is accused of wilfully neglecting to implement safety measures. In the process of his investigation into the causes of the disaster, Jörg Sambeth discovers facts which harm the people who are paying for his lawyers: Sambeth is given a five-year prison sentence. Will he take on the conglomerate?