Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino said
Thursday that he intends to remain in the job until 2023 -
gaining re-election after his current five-year term ends in
2018 - despite widespread calls for his resignation amid a mafia
scandal and after receiving a lukewarm endorsement of his city
management skills from the leader of his ruling Democratic Party
(PD), Matteo Renzi.
"I have never changed my mind, I am here to stay until
2023", said the mayor, who has been under pressure over the
growing Mafia Capitale scandal involving criminal infiltration
that allegedly began under earlier centre-right and centre-left
administrations in the Italian capital.
In the probe, it has been claimed that an alleged crime
ring made up of politicians, businessmen and gangsters muscled
in on lucrative city contracts
Marino, who is a heart surgeon, said he won't judge
people's comments until "the end, when the patient, after
resuscitation, embraces family members and returns home".
Marino's defiant announcement came after Renzi earlier this
week said the mayor should stay on "only if he shows he can
govern" a complex city like Rome.
And the mayor's prediction that he could win re-election
was met with a thunderous silence by Renzi and most other PD
bigwigs.
The only heavyweight to chime in was former Renzi aide,
Transport Minister Graziano delrio, who said: "I'm not saying
Marino should take a step back...He's an extraordinarily honest
person, who should listen to the Romans and verify what they are
saying".
The mayor's vow to stay on, and hopefully prevail again,
also came on the same day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement
(M5S) of former comedian Beppe Grillo called for Marino's head,
saying "the critical elements unearthed by the Mafia Capitale
probe are all still there".
The M5S highlighted that the city's former housing
councillor, Daniele Ozzimo, now under house arrest, "was chosen
by Marino".
In contrast to Renzi's tepid assessment of Mario's
abilities - attributed by some commentators to a desire to
deflect the spotlight from disappointing local-election results
- PD Chairman Matteo Orfini, appointed as commissioner for the
party in Rome, has been keen to stress that Marino was not
responsible for the Mafia Capitale case.
If anything, Orfini has pointed out, many of the criminal
probes in the sprawling case were opened after Marino asked
prosecutors to step in.
Marino, whom surveys say is unpopular for a fall-off in the
level of municipal services, has also been supported by other
leading members of the party.
The media, however, have widely depicted Renzi's views on
the mayor's competence as a vote of no confidence.
Marino has declined to comment on Renzi's remarks.
In another development in the Mafia Capitale probe
Thursday, the parliamentary intelligence services oversight
committee COPASIR said it was going to look into the case,
primarily to look at claims that agents may have been in touch
with the alleged ringleader, former rightist terrorist and
gangster Massimo Carminati.
Meanwhile a Rome court upheld the pretrial detention of 14
suspects in the probe.
Leftwing cooperative chief Salvatore Buzzi, Carminati's
alleged No.2, as well as suspects Claudio Caldarelli and
Paolo Di Ninno, are to remain behind bars.
City councillors Massimo Caprari, Pierpaolo Pedetti, and
Giordano Tredicine, plus former city manager Angelo Scozzafava -
who faces charges of mafia-style criminal association - are to
remain under house arrest.
Stefano Bravo, Emanuela Bugitti, Buzzi girlfriend
Alessandra Garrone, and Guido Magrini are also under house
arrest.
Suspect Mario Monge was set free, but with an obligation to
report to the police.
Buzzi - who faces charges including corruption and
mafia-style criminal association - has entered a plea bargain of
three years six months.
Meanwhile the Senate on Thursday approved a bill aimed at
avoiding repetitions of the kind of bid-rigging seen in Mafia
Capitale and a host of other scandals involving all sides of the
political spectrum.
The bill aims to make bidding for public contracts more
transparent.
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