Puglia ex-No.2 arrested in health graft probe
Sandro Frisullo suspected of rigging tenders for Tarantini
18 March, 13:21
(ANSA) - Bari, March 18 - The former deputy governor of
Puglia was arrested Thursday in a probe into graft in the
southern Italian region's healthcare system.Sandro Frisullo of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) was taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy, corruption and rigging public tenders in favour of a rising local medical equipment producer, Gianpaolo Tarantini.
Tarantini came to national attention last year when it emerged he had paid escorts to attend parties given by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Two health officials and a neurosurgeon were arrested Thursday in Lecce while three other members of the city's health board were placed under investigation.
The probe concerns the supply of beds and medical equipment to Lecce hospitals and clinics in 2007 and 2008, judicial sources said.
Tarantini and his brother Claudio are also under investigation but they have not been arrested because they have been providing information useful to the probe, police said.
Frisullo, 54, was reportedly trapped by wiretaps suggesting he exchanged favours for sex and other inducements.
A judge ordered his arrest because of the danger of his tampering with evidence or committing other crimes, judicial sources said.
In one wiretap that has been released, Tarantini is allegedly heard to say "I want to focus my business on Lecce" while Frisullo allegedly provides him with the names of people he can approach to do so.
Frisullo was removed from his posts as deputy governor and regional economic development chief in June when Governor Nichi Vendola, currently running for re-election on a PD ticket, sacked the regional government because of the rising healthcare scandal.
Vendola also ordered the suspension of Lea Cosentino, the head of the health board in Bari, the region's capital, after she was placed under house arrest. The ex-deputy governor has always protested his innocence.
In a long letter to the PD leadership in September he apologised for "mistakes and missteps but insisted "I do not intend to be subjected to a fierce media lynching".
Puglia is one of 13 of Italy's 20 regions going to the polls on March 28-29.
