Santanchè probed for fraud over Covid redundancy funds

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 22 - Tourism Minister Daniela Santanché could face charges of aggravated fraud against the Italian national pensions and social security institute INPS over alleged irregular management of funds made available for redundancy payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, following a probe into allegedly improper business practices related to her former Visibilia publishing empire.
    News of the investigation emerged last summer after investigative journalism programme Report on Rai 3 reported that businesses linked to Santanchè, a leading member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, allegedly failed to pay suppliers and dismissed workers without giving them redundancy payments, as well as allegedly improperly receiving COVID aid, prompting calls for her to quit.
    The 62-year-old minister, who sold her stake in Visibilia when she became minister, has denied all wrongdoing.
    She was placed under investigation along with several other people who had roles in the company, including her sister Fiorella Garnero and her partner Dimitri Kuntz D'Asburgo, the former president of Visibilia Editore. (ANSA).