Ponzano Romano mayor arrested

(ANSA) - Rome, September 18 - Carabinieri police on Tuesday arrested Enzo De Santis, the mayor of Ponzano Romano, a town just north of Rome, sources said. He is accused of taking bribes in exchange for favours for Sergio Scarpellini, a property businessman arrested in a corruption case in December 2016 along with former senior city of Rome official Raffaele Marra. Investigators seized some 750,000 euros - money that is suspected to have come from bribes. Two other people who were public officials at the time of the alleged wrongdoing are under investigation in the case, the sources said. The homes of former centre-right lawmaker Denis Verdini and of former Lazio Region Vice President Luciano Ciocchetti were searched on Tuesday in relation to the case, according to sources said.
    The former head of the Rome city assembly, Mirko Coratti, is also under investigation in the case, the sources said.
    Coratti was convicted in relation to the Mafia Capitale investigation and handed a jail term of four years, six months.