More than
30 people, including the Mayor of Venice, have been arrested in a corruption
probe over the Italian city's flood protection project. It is the latest arrest
in investigations throughout Italy.
Deutsche Welle, 4 June 2014
The arrests
on Wednesday were part of a three-year investigation which led to last summer's
arrest of Giovanni Mazzacurati. Mazzacurati was the head of the consortium
building the long-delayed Moses barrier system to prevent flooding of Venice's
architectural treasures, including St. Mark's Square, during high tides.
Authorities
say 25 million euros ($34 million) was diverted abroad to bribe politicians.
"The
investigation shows that a great portion of the funds was used to finance
political forces at the city, regional and national level, and corrupt
high-level public officials," prosecutors Luigi Delpino and Carlo Nordio
said.
Mayor of
Venice, 67-year-old Giorgio Orsoni, has been placed under house arrest accused
of illegally financing political parties, prosecutors said.
The
prosecutors said they had also requested the arrest of former Venice region
governor Giancarlo Galan, an MP in former premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza
Italia party. Galan is currently protected by parliamentary immunity. He
launched the Moses project - or The Experimental Electromechanical Module
(MOSE) - in 2003 with Berlusconi.
Also
detained on Wednesday were the regional head of Italy's ruling Democratic
Party, Giampiero Marquis, regional councillor for infrastructure Renato Chisso
and the president of a co-operative involved in the Moses project. A hundred
others are believed to be under investigation.
Costs for
the ambitious Moses scheme have reportedly reached 5.4 billion euros ($7.4
billion). The system of 78 mobile barriers to protect the city was due for
completion this year but has been repeatedly delayed.
Separate investigations in Italy have centered on some of the country's biggest public
works projects including Milan's world fair, Expo 2015, and an Italian-funded
water project in Iraq.
Last
weekend, the European Commission cited corruption as an issue hampering
investment and economic renewal in Italy. The south European nation ranked 69th
in Transparency International's perceived level of public sector corruption in
2013; behind Montenegro and just ahead of Kuwait.
jm/crh (AP, dpa)
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