Never been a pen pusher says Conte

(ANSA) - Rome, April 24 - Premier Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday he had never been a pen pusher, repeating a retort he made to Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini during a heated cabinet meeting Tuesday night.
    Amid continued tension between government partners the League and the 5-Star Movement (M5S), Conte said "fractures are repaired through talks".
    On League Transport Undersecretary Armando Siri, under investigation for allegedly taking a bribe from a Sicilian windfarm king allegedly linked to Cosa Nostra's No.1 fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro, Conte said "I can't say anything until I've spoken to him".
    The M5S have been demanding Siri step down to prove his innocence while League leader Matteo Salvini has strenuously defended Siri, who has not been charged and denies ever meeting wind power entrepreneur Vito Nicastri.
    Conte said the M5S position on Siri resigning was "legitimate" and similar to the one Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio's movement had taken on a Rome council head of assembly, Marcello De Vito, whom the M5S has ejected. Conte said "I will listen to undersecretary Siri, I will look him in the eye and I will make my decisions taking into account the principle of presumed innocence to which I am very sensitive as a lawyer.
    "But I stress there is a principle of public ethics, for which it is possible to take a political decision before a definitive sentence".