Rome center-left Mayor Ignazio
Marino said Friday he feels "more strength and determination"
than before the eruption of the mafia scandal that has sent
shock waves through the city over the past week.
A massive ongoing probe has uncovered an alleged crime
syndicate in the capital led by ex-rightwing terrorist Massimo
Carminati and involving contractors and high-ranking
politicians.
Marino defended his record since he took office in 2013 and
outlined in detail the measures he took to end illegal practices
and corruption he discovered after his election.
Asked if he would accept a police escort, Marino said he
would decide by the weekend, pledging not to use his beloved
bicycle for travelling around the city till then.
As well, Marino said he might appoint a person tasked with
"transparency and legality" to help deal with the corruption
scandal sweeping the city.
Also on Friday, Senate Speaker Piero Grasso rejected calls
from some politicians to break up the current administration.
He was echoed by PD national President Matteo Orfini, who
has been put in charge of the Rome branch of the party after
this week's probe.
"This (Marino's) administration has been a dam against the
criminal powers and what emerges shows there was an attack on
this administration," Orfini said.
More than 100 people are under investigation, including the
man who Marino replaced as mayor in 2013, Gianni Alemanno, a
right-wing politician and former agriculture minister under
ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.
As well, some 37 people were arrested on Tuesday. Several
of those being investigated were expected to appear before an
investigating magistrate on Saturday.
Marino has so far emerged from the probe as being an
incorruptible figure, but some members of his and Premier Matteo
Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) have been implicated
in the scandal.
Italy's anti-corruption czar Raffaele Cantone on Thursday
said his authority would order any contracts that are tainted by
organised crime to be removed from the firms or cooperatives
that have them.
"We told Marino that we will run checks on the contracts and
we will put those won thanks to corruption in the hands of
commissioners," Cantone said after meeting the mayor.
Lazio Governor Nicola Zingaretti said the regional
government has suspended the awarding of all contracts while it
conducts an internal investigation to find possible mafia
infiltration there.
Among those put behind bars Tuesday was the Roman mobsters'
alleged leader Massimo Carminati, a former member of the NAR
neofascist terrorist group and of the Banda della Magliana crime
gang.
The organisation allegedly made millions by rigging
contracts in fields including waste management, park
maintenance, migrant and refugee reception centers (CIEs) and
Roma camps.
Salvatore Buzzi, a former manslaughter convict who headed
cooperatives implicated in the scandal, seemed to boast about
how much profit his gang was making off scamming city settlement
centres.
"Do you have any idea how much I make on these immigrants?"
Buzzi allegedly says in a wiretap from early 2013 contained in
prosecution documents. "Drug trafficking is not as profitable".
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