Premier Matteo Renzi denied
Tuesday a judge's allegations that too often, the Italian State
"slaps" magistrates and rewards the corrupt.
"The State does not give a slap to magistrates and caresses
the corrupt," said Renzi.
"It is a statement that is false, unjust," said Renzi, who
added that such comments undermine confidence in the system.
He spoke after the head of the Italian National Magistrates
Association (ANM) Rodolfo Sabelli said that too often in Italy
the State has not reinforced judicial forces.
Sabelli said that a well-functioning State "should slap the
corrupt and caress those who exercise control over legality".
But, added Sabelli, too often "in Italy the opposite has
occurred".
Sabelli said in a television interview with RAI that for a
long period in Italy, governments undermined the judiciary and
rewrote laws to downgrade the severity of many crimes.
And he urged the government to now "spread a culture of
legality" across Italy.
New measures introduced Monday by Renzi in an
anti-corruption bill would once again would make false
accounting, financial market fraud, and similar offenses
criminal matters subject to stiff jail terms.
Under the former government of ex-premier Silvio
Berlusconi, those crimes had been deeply downgraded and
penalties significantly lightened.
Sabelli's comments also came after police revealed a
massive graft probe into public contracts for everything from
the TAV high-speed rail project to Milan Expo, which all
allegedly involved a top former manager at the infrastructure
ministry.
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