Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said
Thursday that he was confident magistrates will shed full light
on possible links between NGOs involved in rescues in
Mediterranean and traffickers.
"I am certain that the judiciary and the police will shed
full light on any eventual opacity and punish any crimes that
have been committed," Grasso said as he opened the The State of
the Union conference organised by the European University
Institute.
"However, this must take place with rigorous respect of the
rules and the confidentiality needed to guarantee the success of
the probes".
Catania Prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro said last week that he had
heard that traffickers may be funding some NGOs with the aim of
destabilising the Italian economy.
Grasso said Thursday that European Union agencies should be
doing the job that NGOs involved in migrant rescues in the
Mediterranean are performing.
"The non-governmental organizations have had a key role in
the European and Italian system of rescue and reception, in
close synergy with many central and regional institutions,"
Grasso said.
"They have effectively performed a public function for the
Union, guaranteeing services that should have been provided by
institutional interventions of a European nature".
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