Renzi says Italy doesn't 'coddle the corrupt'

(ANSA) - Rome, March 17 - Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday denied allegation by a leading judge that too often, the Italian state penalizes magistrates while coddling the corrupt. "That is a false and unfair statement," said Renzi, adding that such comments undermine confidence in the system. He spoke after National Magistrates Association (ANM) chief Rodolfo Sabelli said that too often in Italy, the state has not stood behind judicial forces. Sabelli said that a well-functioning state "should slap the corrupt and caress those who exercise control over legality". But, added Sabelli, too often "in Italy the opposite has occurred". Sabelli said in a television interview with RAI public broadcaster that for a long period in Italy, governments undermined the judiciary and rewrote laws to downgrade the severity of many crimes. And he urged the government to now "spread a culture of legality" across Italy. New measures introduced Monday by Renzi in an anti-corruption bill would once again make false accounting, financial market fraud, and similar corporate offenses criminal matters subject to stiff prison terms. Under the former government of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, those crimes had been downgraded to non-felony offences with significantly lighter penalties. Sabelli's comments came after police revealed a massive graft probe into public contracts for everything from the TAV high-speed rail project to Milan Expo, which all allegedly involved a former top manager at the infrastructure ministry led by Minister Maurizio Lupi.
    The minister, whose New Center Right (NCD) party is a junior ruling coalition member, said Tuesday he is not contemplating stepping down after some opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against him.
    Published wiretaps from the graft probe appear to indicate a close connection between Lupi and the so-called 'boss' of public-works graft, former manager and now consultant Ercole Incalza.
    Incalza, a public-works honcho for seven governments who now works as a consultant, was among four arrested including businessmen Stefano Perotti and Francesco Cavallo, as well as Incalza's aide Sandro Pacella, in a probe that saw more than 50 people including politicians placed under investigation for suspected kickbacks that inflated costs by as much as 40%. Lupi's son was allegedly hired by an engineer, Giorgio Mor, at Perotti's behest in what a judge said was a favour that might have been reciprocated in some way. The indirect hiring of Luca Lupi by Perotti may have been part of "an illicit quid pro quo" by the minister, the judge said in papers on the case.