Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday
her deputy and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo
Salvini does not need to report to parliament on a case of
allegedly rigged contracts for motorway company ANAS in which
his partner's father, former Berlusconi ally Denis Verdini, and
her brother Tommaso have been placed under investigation.
"I think that on this issue we have to wait for the work of the
judiciary, for developments," Meloni told reporters at her
end-of-year press conference in Rome.
"If necessary, (we can) comment on those and not on theories,"
she added.
"From what I have read, the wire taps refer to the previous
government, Salvini is not involved and I think he should not
not address the House on this matter," said Meloni, referring to
wire taps dating to July 2022 in which Verdini allegedly
describes the investigation as "total rubbish".
"It is the same story all over again, they want to find
something political because one (suspect) is Verdini and Salvini
is in the lead," Verdini is reportedly on record as saying.
On Sunday Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party
rallied around Salvini over claims he may have been involved in
the ANAS case.
"On the ANAS contracts there is an ongoing investigation which
began well before the current government took office, and which
does not involve Matteo Salvini, nor any other political figure,
so let's wait for developments", said FdI.
The opposition has called on Salvini, who is also the leader of
the right-wing government coalition partner League, to brief
parliament on the case, a call he has rejected.
Judicial sources said on Wednesday that Denis Verdini's son
Tommaso, his business partner Fabio Pileri and other suspects in
the case had availed themselves of the right not to answer
during questioning by a preliminary investigations judge in
Rome.
On Thursday morning Salvini and his partner Francesca Verdini
announced that they would be taking legal action in relation to
media reports that have allegedly inappropriately implicated
them in the affair.
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