Romeo never met Tiziano Renzi - lawyers (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, March 6 - Campania businessman Alfredo Romeo, who was arrested last week in relation to alleged corruption involving civil-service procurement agency CONSIP, says that he has never met ex-premier Matteo Renzi's father Tiziano, his lawyers said on Monday. "Our client says that he never gave money to anyone and that he never met Tiziano Renzi or people linked to the entourage of the ex-premier," said lawyers Francesco Carotenuto, Giovanni Battista Vignola and Alfredo Sorge before Romeo was set for questioning at Rome's Regina Coeli jail. Tiziano is under investigation in the probe as is Sports Minister Luca Lotti.
    The case has rocked the ruling Democratic Party (PD), which is gearing up for a congress and primaries in which Matteo Renzi is standing to be re-elected leader of the centre-left group. Romeo exercised the right to remain silent during questioning with a preliminary investigations judge on Monday, sources said.
    Romeo's lawyers have handed over a statement giving details of the defence case, sources said. Raffaele Cantone, the head of anti-corruption authority ANAC, said Monday that it was important that CONSIP is not tainted by graft. "I consider CONSIP to be an indispensable tool for the country's public tender policies," he said. "Precisely because of that it is necessary to do everything to keep it far from scandals. "We at the anti-corruption authority have formed an idea (about the case) and we believe that certain contract allotments should be constructed in a certain way to avoid certain types of problem".