Tourism Minister Daniela Santanché
could face charges of aggravated fraud against the Italian
national pensions and social security institute INPS over
alleged irregular management of funds made available for
redundancy payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, following a
probe into allegedly improper business practices related to her
former Visibilia publishing empire.
News of the investigation emerged last summer after
investigative journalism programme Report on Rai 3 reported that
businesses linked to Santanchè, a leading member of Premier
Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party,
allegedly failed to pay suppliers and dismissed workers without
giving them redundancy payments, as well as allegedly improperly
receiving COVID aid, prompting calls for her to quit.
The 62-year-old minister, who sold her stake in Visibilia when
she became minister, has denied all wrongdoing.
She was placed under investigation along with several other
people who had
roles in the company, including her sister Fiorella Garnero and
her partner Dimitri Kuntz D'Asburgo, the former president of
Visibilia Editore.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
