De Luca 'requested hearing in October'

(see related)(ANSA) - Naples, November 11 - Embattled Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca, who is being probed for corruption, on Wednesday published an October 29 letter in which he requested a hearing with Rome prosecutors.
    The letter signed by his defense lawyer said De Luca wanted to "be interrogated in order to clarify his position and the fact that he had nothing to do with the alleged wrongdoing".
    De Luca won May's regional election in Campania even though his name was included on a list of candidates deemed to be 'unpresentable' by a parliamentary anti-mafia committee because of the conviction related to an incinerator project.
    His candidacy was controversial but he won centre-left primaries to lead the PD ticket.
    Raffaele Cantone, the head of Italy's anti-corruption authority, said Thursday that the 2012 anti-graft law under which De Luca had been suspended was in need of being revamped.
    The Severino law, named after former justice minister Paola Severino, bans from office politicians convicted of certain crimes.
    Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi was ejected from parliament under the law in 2013 after a definitive tax-fraud conviction.
    But the De Luca case comes after a successful challenge against a ban under it by Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris.
    But in that case, the Severino law was later found to conform to the Italian constitution, spelling expected trouble for De Luca too.
    "Less than three years after the law came into force, it is encountering problems and doubts about its application," Cantone said in a report to parliament.
    He said the law was central to preventing corruption, while stressing that "legislative interventions" were needed to make it truly effective.
    Cantone also said that the counter-graft plans adopted in the public sector were largely inadequate.
    He said 90% of local authorities had adopted anti-corruption plans.
    But he said that the quality of these documents was frequently "insufficient" in terms of "method, sustainability and effectiveness".
    He added that this had led to "various critical points".
    Italy's political parties have been hit by a long series of corruption scandals that have caused widespread public disaffection.