Renzi asked about Etruria - Visco (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, December 19 - Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco told the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the banking crisis on Tuesday that ex-premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi asked about the case of Banca Etruria in 2014.
    The bank was one of four troubled lenders that went to the wall in 2015 and were reformed as good banks and subsequently sold off.
    "He certainly asked me," Visco told the commission in reply to a question about Renzi and Banca Etruria.
    "And I didn't answer... I said that I only speak to the economy ministry about the banks in difficulty". Visco told the commission that Cabinet Secretary Maria Elena Boschi spoke to a central bank official about Banca Etruria when she was reforms minister, but he added that she "did not make a particular request for interventions".
    Boschi had denied reports that she meddled over Banca Etruria, which her father Pier Luigi was vice president of for a period. Visco said Boschi had two meetings with the central bank's deputy director general, Fabio Panetta, during which she expressed "sorrow and concern about the consequences of the Banca Etruria crisis on the local area".
    5-Star Movement (M5S) premier candidate Luigi Di Maio said Visco's testimony showed Renzi applied pressure over Banca Etruria. "Visco reveals Renzi pressure on Banca Etruria," Di Maio said via Twitter. "A real democratic party would have already sent its leader packing over a scandal of this size. "How can the PD suffer this institutional violence in silence? How long will you abuse our patience?".
    Renzi, on the other hand, said Visco's testimony showed that members of his government were not guilty of undue interference in Italy's banking sector.
    "I thank Governor Visco for the words of appreciation he directed at my government in his hearing," Renzi, who was premier from early 2014 until late 2016, said in a statement. "I am pleased that it dispels any doubt about the behaviour of the ministers. "None of them have ever applied pressure, but just (took) legitimate interest linked to their local areas: institutional activity that is perfectly correct. "So I thank Visco for putting the final word on weeks of media speculation and verbal lynching of members of my government".