A Rome court on Tuesday shelved
a case against Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi for the appointment of
Salvatore Romeo as her political secretary.
The case was shelved for lack of evidence.
Raggi said the court had "cancelled more than a year of
splatters of mud, fanciful reconstructions and insults".
Last month, however, Raggi was sent to trial June 21 for
allegedly lying about another appointment.
Raggi was indicted on charges of lying about the appointment
of Renato Marra, brother of her former right-hand man Raffaele,
as Rome's tourism chief.
Raggi had asked the Rome court for an 'immediate' trial,
pushing the trial date back until after the March 4 general
election and averting potential embarrassment for her
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), which is leading the
polls among individual parties.
Raggi said at the time "I am certain of my innocence and I
don't want to dodge any trial".
Marra is also involved in another more serious case, yet to
come to trial, where he is accused of corruption with
constructor Sergio Scarpellini in relation to the sale of a Rome
apartment.
In September prosecutors requested that Raggi be indicted for
alleged falsehood in relation to Renato Marra's appointment, but
they also asked for a more serious abuse-of-office accusation to
be dropped.
The false-declaration charge relates to the appointment of
Renato Marra, the brother of her former wingman and personnel
chief Raffaele, as head of the city tourism department.
The abuse-of-office accusation regarded the appointment of
Salvatore Romeo as her political secretary.
Raffaele Marra was arrested last year in a corruption case in
relation to Raggi's executive.
Raggi became Rome's first woman mayor in a landslide
last year and her administration has been a test bed for the
M5S's capacity to rule Italy.
The M5S prides itself on not being tainted by the graft
scandals that have hit other parties.
Raggi expressed satisfaction at the prosecutors' request to
drop the abuse-of-office charge.
"I am satisfied to learn that, after months of media
mud-slinging at me and the 5-Star Movement, the Rome prosecutors
office has decided to drop the abuse-of-office accusation,"
Raggi said via Facebook.
The M5S's premier candidate and leader Luigi Di Maio stressed
that the Rome prosecutors had asked to shelve the abuse of
office charges, "over which the press slung mud at us for
months".
Di Maio, who was also Lower House Deputy Speaker in the
parliament that was recently dissolved, said "we have the utmost
confidence in the magistrature and the M5S is continuing to work
for Rome".
As well as facing a slew of appointments headaches, Raggi has
also been widely criticised for allegedly failing to clear
rubbish, repair pot-holed streets and improve public transport
and other public services.
Much of the city has fallen into decay and disrepair, critics
say.
Amid a holiday trash-collection emergency, the Emilia Romagna
region recently stepped in to take some of the rubbish littering
Rome streets.
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