NORTHERN LEAGUE leader Umberto Bossi has resigned in the wake of allegations that he and his family had siphoned off public funds for their personal use.
The resignation of Senator Bossi comes just four months after that of his longtime political ally and government partner, tycoon Silvio Berlusconi. He stood down last November as his government was overwhelmed by both international and domestic concern about his handling of the Italian economy.
The departure of Mr Bossi (70) represents the end of an era. He has been not only the charismatic driving force behind the Federalist League movement but also the only leader the party has ever known since it burst on to the national scene winning 8.7 per cent of the national vote in the 1992 general election.
The Northern League presented itself as the clean face of an honest, hardworking, medium- and small-sized entrepreneurial class, based in the north, that had had enough of the Mafia-infested corruption of Roma Ladrona (Rome the Big Thief).
For the Northern League electorate (8.3 per cent in the 2008 general election), the disturbing conclusion to emerge from this week’s revelations is that their party of federalist idealism, bordering sometimes on an urge to secession, has become a major player in the fat cat corruption of national politics.
Most galling is the accusation that the party, via its former treasurer Francesco Belsito and Mr Bossi’s son Renzo, has been laundering money on behalf of the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia.
A turning point for Mr Bossi came on Wednesday when senior party members told him that several of the accusations made against his family, and in particular Renzo, were well founded.
Not only was €50,000 of party funds made available to Renzo Bossi for the purchase of a new BMW car but also extensive renovation work on the Bossi family home was also funded from public funds, made available to the party for electoral and other administrative purposes.
In the wake of a serious illness, when he almost died in 2004 from a stroke, there has been consistent speculation that the much impaired Mr Bossi was no longer in control of his own party.
That speculation appeared to be confirmed by media reports yesterday which claimed that his longtime private secretary, Daniela Cantamesssa, had told investigators that since his illness, “the reins of the party have been in the hands of his wife, Manuela Morrone and of Senator Rosi Mauro”.
Further embarrassing revelations about the Northern League may yet emerge, given that investigators yesterday opened a Rome safety deposit box, held in the name of Mr Belsito, who resigned earlier this week.
The box is believed to have contained both a pre-signed cheque book, in the name of Umberto Bossi, as well as a file, “The Family”, relating to expenses run up by the Bossi family.
In the meantime, the party will be run by a triumvirate of Roberto Maroni, Roberto Calderoli, former ministers under Mr Berlusconi, and deputy Manuela Dal Lago.