(supersedes previous)The jailed and suspended mayor of Lodi, Simone Uggetti, said Tuesday he "acted for the good of the city, as I have always done". Uggetti, 42, was suspended from his post in the city in the northern region of Lombardy after being arrested on suspicion of bid rigging on tenders for public swimming pools. He is a member of Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and was elected in June 2013 with 53.62% of the vote.
Lodi lawyer Cristiano Marini was also arrested in the investigation and police seized documents from city hall. A preliminary investigations judge said the suspects' conduct was "alarming". The pair had shown "irritation" against people who were trying to reveal "their nefarious conduct". They were "absolutely unscrupulous" and showed "no compunction" in trying to hide their criminal acts, she said in explaining why she had ordered their arrest.
Also on Tuesday, PD deputy leader and former Lodi mayor Lorenzo Guerini vouched for Uggetti, who succeeded him as mayor.
"I got to know Simone Uggetti as a competent and careful manager and as a more than correct and clean person," Guerini said. "That said, (I have) full and total confidence in the work of the magistrates in the trust that things can be cleared up as quickly as possible". From 2005-2013, Uggetti served as assessor for the environment, urban planning, sustainable transport and productive activities in the two Lodi administrations led by Guerini. He was a Lodi city councillor from 1995 to 2005.
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