ITALIAN PRIME minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday suffered a serious setback when his industry minister resigned because of allegations of impropriety in the purchase of an apartment near Rome’s Colosseum.
Media reports have accused Claudio Scajola, a long-time Berlusconi ally and close adviser, of having accepted an undeclared €900,000 from Rome builder Diego Anemone to help clinch the purchase of the luxury apartment.
Last February, Mr Anemone was one four people arrested in the context of a Perugia-based corruption inquiry focused on the awarding of public works contracts for major events such as last year’s G8 summit in La Maddalena, Sardinia (later moved to L’Aquila), the 2009 world swimming championships, next year’s 150th anniversary celebrations of the Unity of Italy and the reconstruction of L’Aquila in the wake of last year’s earthquake.
Mr Scajola has two serious questions to answer in relation to the purchase of the apartment in Via del Fagutale. Firstly, how come the officially declared purchase price was €600,000, an unrealistically low figure for the property in question? Media reports suggest that the real price was in fact €1.71 million. Secondly, is it possible that the former minister knew nothing of additional payments of €900,000, made out in 80 bank drafts allegedly drawn on funds made available by Mr Anemone?
Until yesterday, Mr Scajola had declared himself the “victim of a media witchhunt”. While repeating his innocence, Mr Scajola did appear to accept that the drafts may well have been lodged on his behalf, saying: “If I were to discover that my house had been paid for by other people without me knowing the how, why or when, then my lawyers would immediately have the contract annulled . . . ” Although he is not under investigation, Mr Scajola is due to testify to the Perugia investigators later this month.
Mr Scajola is credited with overhauling Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party prior to Mr Berlusconi’s 2001 general election victory. As industry minister he has overseen Italy’s plans to relaunch its nuclear power industry and has also handled negotiations with carmaker Fiat, in particular in relation to Fiat’s plans to close a plant in Sicily.
This is the second time that Mr Scajola has been forced to resign from government – in 2002, he resigned as interior minister after making disparaging remarks about Maro Biagi, a government adviser killed by the Red Brigades.
