The blog of 5-Star Movement (M5S)
leader Beppe Grillo accused the media of "killer journalism" on
Tuesday over reports of messages sent by Deputy Lower House
Speaker Luigi Di Maio to Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi over former
personnel chief Raffaele Marra's role in city hall.
"Today four different journalists on three newspapers report
the same fake news about Luigi Di Maio," the post read.
"The case is of unheard-of gravity because what they wrote is
false, misleading and not verified".
It said Di Maio was preparing legal action to sue for damages
of hundreds of thousands of euros.
On Facebook, Di Maio said "I officially ask for the apologies
of the editors or else we'll end it here, I've now reached my
limit.
"Which side are the editors on? On the side of information or
on that of some parties who want to stop us?" he added, saying
that the M5S was the only party with a realistic chance of
reaching 40% and thus getting a winner's bonus under the current
House electoral system.
Di Maio was at the centre of a storm after several dailies
published extracts from the messages he sent Raggi over Marra,
an official who was subsequently arrested.
The chat messages sent in August were found by investigators
in the phone of Raggi's former personnel chief Marra, who was
jailed in December in relation to a separate corruption
investigation.
Raggi, also a M5S member, had initially given Marra a
position in her cabinet office, but he was stripped of that post
after the appointment attracted criticism, including from within
the movement.
"He (Marra) does not feel humiliated," Di Maio wrote in an
August 10 message to Raggi, who sent it on to Marra, according
to investigation documents that ANSA has seen.
"He's a servant of the State. The Movement runs checks on my
people every month. The important thing is that nothing is
found".
Critics said the messages show that Di Maio was not telling
the truth when he said he was opposed to Marra.
Di Maio said at the weekend that he met Marra in the summer,
soon after Raggi was elected Rome's first woman mayor, but
asserted that the reason for the encounter was to get rid of
him.
In the August chat messages, Di Maio also said that "I don't
think that he (Marra) can remain in the cabinet".
According to veteran TV journalist Enrico Mentana, now at La7
broadcaster, Di Maio's comments on Marra were "much more
critical of him" than it has appeared in the press coverage so
far.
In other M5S news, Rome city planning chief Paolo Berdini on
Tuesday said he had resigned "irrevocably" after a row over his
criticism of Mayor Virginia Raggi.
In a statement, Berdini said "the conditions for my being
able to do my job have ended".
Berdini tendered his resignation last week after saying Raggi
was "unfit" and had surrounded herself with a "gang", but Raggi
declined the resignation "with reservations".
The definitive resignation came after a key meeting on AS
Roma's new stadium, of which Berdini had been a staunch
opponent.
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