The centre-right mayor of the
city of Cosenza in Calabria was indicted for fraudulent
bankruptcy on Friday.
The official, Mario Occhiuto, was sent to trial in connection
with the bankruptcy of the financial firm Ofin, of which he was
administrator until 2011.
He is accused of fraudulent bankruptcy totalling some three
million euros.
The first hearing in the trial will take place on April 2
next year.
Occhiuto was proposed for the governorship of Calabria in
January 26 elections by three-time former premier Silvio
Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party.
In the same probe, Occhiuto's sister Annunziata was sentenced
to one year and four months in jail, a suspended sentence, for
her role as administrator and legal representative of Ofin from
September to October 2014, when the company collapsed.
The case against Carmine Potestio, an Ofin partner and the
mayor's former cabinet chief, was shelved.
Occhiuto said his indictment "does not produce any effect
regarding the post of mayor, nor does it constitute any
impediment at all for the future political projects which are
ongoing".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
