(supersedes previous)The
government's long-awaited anti-corruption bill won definitive
approval in the Upper House on Wednesday.
The bill passed with 165 in favor, 74 nays, and 13
abstaining. It now goes to the Lower House for review.
The biggest novelty is that it reintroduces corporate
accounting fraud as a full-blown crime after a past government
of billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi reduced it to a
non-felony offence with significantly lighter penalties.
Under the new bill, cooking the books is now punishable
with 1-5 years in prison if the crime occurred at a non-listed
company and 3-8 years for publicly traded companies.
The measure passed via a secret ballot and a very thin
majority of three votes, which Justice Minister Andrea Orlando
said is to be expected. "It's no secret that this is a delicate
issue," he told Senate reporters.
As far as defrauding public entities, the bill calls for
the possibility of a plea bargain only in cases in which the
defendant gives back the entire sum of his or her ill-gotten
gains.
It also makes it mandatory for prosecutors trying such
cases to report to the head of the National Anti-Corruption
Authority (ANAC), and for officials found guilty of corruption
to pay a fine equal to bribes received.
The bill also stiffens the penalties for mafia association,
with organized crime bosses and their minions facing up to 26
years in prison if convicted.
The bill "cracks down on mafia crimes, (reinstates the
crime of) false accounting, and stiffens penalties for
civil-service corruption," Renzi said on Twitter.
"Of course I'm satisfied as victory was not a given,"
Orlando said.
"My only regret is the vote on such an important issue was
not unanimous".
There is no time for resting on laurels as the fight
against corruption must go on, he said.
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