Seven arrested tax-collection probe

(ANSA) - Rome, April 9 - Italian police on Wednesday arrested seven people in a corruption probe involving Equitalia, the debt-collection body for Italy's homeland revenue agency.
    It is estimated that the alleged wrongdoing cost Equitalia 17 million euros.
    Investigators say a number of entrepreneurs illegally obtained rescheduling and even cancellation of debt payments using corrupt practices through an Equitalia official in the Lazio region.
    Equitalia Lazio official Salvatore Fedele was among those arrested. About a dozen seizures were also made. Equitalia has become an target of rancour for many Italians over beefed-up efforts claw back unpaid taxes while the country struggles to emerge from the economic hardship of its longest postwar recession.