Confindustria, representing Italy's biggest industrial companies, said Wednesday it will seek civil damages in a major corruption case involving mafia infiltration of Rome's government to protect the reputation of the country's entrepreneurs.
The group also warned that corruption in Italy has sucked billions of euros out of the economy, which is reeling after years of recession, with amid high unemployment and low consumer confidence.
Corruption is a "real brake on economic and civil progress," said Antonello Montante, Confindustria's legal affairs representative, who spoke at a seminar organized by the association's research centre on the struggle against graft.
The decision to seek civil damages in the so-called Roma Capitale probe was taken to underscore "the commitment of Confindustria for the respect of values that are crucial to legality and correctness in economic relations," said Montante. Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino, who has not been implicated in the scandal that dates back to previous administrations, applauded the Confindustria move.
"It is very significant that the (business) world decides clearly to be on the right side," Marino said in a statement.
Last week he warned that the national capital of Rome has been "badly hurt" by the mafia crimes still being uncovered in the probe examining contracts and deals between criminals, politicians, and government officials throughout the city organization.
Dozen have been arrested and more than 100 people are under investigation in the probe looking out how millions of euros in contracts, many for housing for migrants and homeless, were instead funneled into mobsters' accounts.
One of the most high-profile figures under investigation is former centre-right mayor Gianni Alemanno.
Premier Matteo Renzi has denounced the criminal activities and this week joined in Marino in announcing Italy will bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, leading some opposition politicians to complain that such an event could be a target for more corruption.
Problems with abuse of position and public funds have pushed Italy to high levels on measures of corruption by such international groups as Transparency International (TI) which said in early December that Italy had the highest level of perceived corruption in the eurozone.
In the 28-member European Union as a whole, only Romania had a worst score, TI said. Such problems curb investment by foreign firms in Italy while driving up taxes to replace funds siphoned out of the economy by criminals.
In early December, the economy ministry estimated the value of crime in the country at about 12% of the Italy's total GDP - about 190 billion euros.
Meanwhile, the devastating effect of corruption on the nation's economy was also featured in a new economic outlook prepared by Confindustria's researchers.
They described corruption as "a major drag" and said that if Italian authorities had taken action after the so-called "Clean Hands" probe into corruption uncovered in 1992, as much as 300 billion euros in money lost to crime could have been saved.
Still, researchers said they forecast economic growth of 0.5% in 2015 and 1.1% in 2016, while this year will close with a loss of 0.5% in gross domestic product (GDP).
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