ILVA's Fabio Riva refuses to answer judge's questions

(ANSA) - Taranto, June 8 - Fabio Riva, former chief executive at the troubled ILVA steel plant in southern Italy, refused to answer a judge's questions Monday morning.
    Riva, whose family owned the polluting giant now being administered by the Italian government, was extradited last week from Britain and returned to Italy on Friday.
    Police allege environmental crimes and fraudulent bankruptcy against Riva, after the ILVA plant was blamed in high cancer levels in the area around the plant.
    It has been one of the region's top employers and one of Europe's largest steel producers.
    Riva has denied any wrongdoing and was legally permitted to refuse to answer questioning.
    The Italian government put ILVA under special administration in 2013 after judges seized more than eight billion euros in assets from the Riva family, who owned the company.
    Italy's high court later overturned the seizure but other funds and parts of the plant itself were at times seized in the longrunning case.
    Premier Matteo Renzi has said that the government hopes to sell the Taranto plant, following an environmental cleanup.
    Protecting the 20,000 jobs at the plant in the southern Italian region where ILVA is located has been a significant concern.