Rome prosecutors have opened a
probe into a leak of a 2015 phone conversation between
businessman Carlo De Benedetti and his broker in which the
left-leaning financier says he has heard from then premier
Matteo Renzi of the government's plans to reform 'popolari'
cooperative banks, judicial sources said Thursday.
De Benedetti allegedly took advantage of the alleged tip-off
to profit from investing in the popolari.
The call was among documents presented to a parliamentary
commission of inquiry into Italy's banking crisis, from which it
was allegedly leaked.
Prosecutors said they were proceeding against "person or
persons unknown".
Prosecutors shelved a case of alleged conflict of interest
over the Renzi-De Benedetti call.
Renzi, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said
that news of the reform had already been reported, in any case.
But critics of Renzi have jumped on the case to claim the
then premier was involved in a conflict of interests with PD
backer De Benedetti, who owns the leaft-leaning la Repubblica
newspaper.
Former premier and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, a
longtime political and business rival of De Benedetti's, said
Wednesday he had been "caught with his hand in the cookie jar".
Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio said
the case was a "scandal".
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