Cabinet Secretary Maria Elena
Boschi was present at a meeting between the heads of Banca
Etruria and Veneto Banca in her family home at Easter 2014 but
"she didn't proffer a word and left after a quarter of an hour,"
former Veneto Banca Ceo Vincenzo Consoli told the parliamentary
commission of inquiry into Italy's banking crisis Friday.
The meeting took place, he said, "because we found out that
Etruria had got a letter from the Bank of Italy similar to ours"
in which the central bank urged them to find a possible merger
partner of elevated standing, which was later identified as
Banca Popolare di Vicenza.
Boschi was minister for relations with parliament at the time
of the meeting, while her father Pier Luigi was vice president
of the Arezzo-based bank for a few months at that time.
Earlier Friday Premier Paolo Gentiloni said after an EU
summit that Boschi had "cleared up" that she did not exert
pressure on bourse regulator CONSOB chief Giuseppe Vegas to try
to stop a merger between her father's Banca Etruria and the
Banca Popolare di Vicenza in 2014.
"I don't take the liberty of passing judgement on the
parliamentary commission of inquiry into the banking crisis, but
I hope the next few weeks are not dominated by rows over banks,"
he said.
Gentiloni added that Boschi, who was minister for relations
with parliament at the time of her meeting with Vegas, would be
a candidate for his Democratic Party in a general election in
March.
"I hope she wins," he said.
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