Renzi parents convicted of issuing false invoices

(ANSA) - Florence, October 7 - A Florence court on on Monday handed down sentences of one year, nine months for the parents of ex-premier, former centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader and now head of the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party, Matteo Renzi, in a false invoices case.
    A third defendant, businessman Luigi Dagostino, got two years.
    Tiziano Renzi and Laura Bovoli denied the charges.
    But a prosecutor said the three acted criminally in issuing two false invoices, perhaps not only for allegedly dodging taxes.
    He said Tiziano Renzi and Laura Bovoli "are two experienced businesspeople who issue invoices for major sums, meant to evade taxes".
    Dagostino also issued fake invoices for the same ends, the prosecutor said.
    The issuing of the invoices may also have had "other purposes" which the prosecutor did not go into.
    The Renzis said they would appeal the verdict.
    Tiziano Renzi said: "I am aware that it is only a first moment, I have not absolutely lost faith in justice and I await the appeals trial with my dfence attorneys".