Four-yr, 6-mth term requested for Marra

(ANSA) - Rome, November 8 - Prosecutors on Thursday requested a prison term of four years, six months for Raffaele Marra, the Rome city council's former head of personnel, in a corruption case. The accusations relate to almost 400,000 euros that Marra allegedly received from construction businessman Sergio Scarpellini for the acquisition of an apartment in the Prati Fiscali district in 2013, a property that was put in the name of his wife. Prosecutors also requested that the apartment in question be seized.
    The case against Scarpellini, who was accused of involvement in corruption, was shelved in July due to him being in extremely poor health.
    "The heart of the trial is to establish whether that gift was a loan between friends or the price of making Marra's public role bow to the interests of the constructor Scarpellini," the prosecutor said. Marra was once considered a close aide of Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi.