Grasso says magistrates will shed light (2)

(ANSA) - Fiesole, May 4 - Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said Thursday that he was confident magistrates will shed full light on possible links between NGOs involved in rescues in Mediterranean and traffickers. "I am certain that the judiciary and the police will shed full light on any eventual opacity and punish any crimes that have been committed," Grasso said as he opened the The State of the Union conference organised by the European University Institute. "However, this must take place with rigorous respect of the rules and the confidentiality needed to guarantee the success of the probes".
    Catania Prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro said last week that he had heard that traffickers may be funding some NGOs with the aim of destabilising the Italian economy.
    Grasso said Thursday that European Union agencies should be doing the job that NGOs involved in migrant rescues in the Mediterranean are performing. "The non-governmental organizations have had a key role in the European and Italian system of rescue and reception, in close synergy with many central and regional institutions," Grasso said. "They have effectively performed a public function for the Union, guaranteeing services that should have been provided by institutional interventions of a European nature".