Lombardy councillor, FI candidate nabbed

(ANSA) - Milan, May 7 - A Lombardy regional councillor and a European election candidate for Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party were among those arrested in a kickbacks probe by Milan anti-mafia prosecutors on Tuesday.
    Councillor Fabio Altitonante, regional undersecretary for the Expo area for the Lombardy regional government, was taken into custody along with Milanese city councillor, deputy FI regional coordinator and EP candidate Pietro Tatarella.
    Also arrested was a businessman in the waste management and environmental clean-up sector, Daniele D'Alfonso, who owns the Ecol-Service company.
    Prosecutors said Tatarella was on D'Alfonso's "pay book" and received 5,000 euros a month for steering contracts of waste company AMSA his way as well as other contracts in Varese and Novara, where another FI MP, Diego Sozzari, was said to be "active". Tatarella was caught on a wiretap urging other suspects: "let's try and get into the area of the former Expo".
    Illicit funding to the nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party was also unearthed, prosecutors said, a claim the party denied. Prosecutors said there was also an episode of "instigation to corruption" regarding Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana, who is the injured party and is not under investigation.
    "I'm the injured party, I'll talk to the prosecutors," Fontana said.
    Prosecutors said they were "evaluating the position" of Fontana.
    Overall, some 43 warrants were issued in the probe against two criminal groups, operating between Milan and Varese and made up of local politicians, civil servants and business people.
    The governor is reported to have not reported the episode, although he recently went to the Milan courthouse to clear up the incident, sources said.
    Those served warrants are accused of conspiracy to commit crimes aggravated by setting up a mafia type organisation, corruption and bid rigging, aimed at sharing out pubic contracts.
    photo: Tatarella (L) and Altitonante