A prosecutor told a trial in
which Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi is accused of making false
statements about a senior appointment that the first citizen
lied to avoid having to quit.
The case regards the appointment of Renato Marra as Rome's
tourism chief.
Marra is the brother of Raffaele Marra, the former head of
the city's personnel who was once widely considered the
right-hand man of Raggi, a member of the 5-Star Movement (M5S).
Raffaele Marra is on trial in an unrelated corruption case.
Prosecutor Paolo Ielo told the court that Raggi "lied to the
city's anti-corruption chief in December 2016" because, if she
had said that Renato Marra's appointment was handled by his
brother, this would have probably led to an investigation.
"Under the M5S's code of ethics at the time, she would have
had to quit," he added.
The code was subsequently amended.
Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di
Maio, the M5S leader, suggested that Raggi would have to quit if
she is found guilty in the case.
"I don't know the outcome of the trial, but our code of
conduct is clear and you know it," he said.
The city of Rome's former cabinet chief Carla Raineri told
the court that Marra held huge sway over Raggi.
"Marra had a very strong influence over the mayor," Raineri
said.
"Lots of nicknames were coined for Marra, eminence grise,
Richelieu, stressing the weakness of the mayor like that of the
czar's wife in the time of Rasputin".
Raggi dismissed Raineri's version of events as "surreal".
"This trial is about an alleged false statement of mine and
for four hours we have listened to gossip-like statements," eh
said.
"I never replied to the interviews with clearly false
statements, sometimes biting my lips".
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