Meloni denies Bari inspection is politically motivated

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 25 - Premier Giorgia Meloni on Monday denied that an inspection launched by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi of the Bari municipal administration for possible mafia infiltration was politically motivated, adding that accusations levelled at Piantedosi over his decision were "shameful".
    Bari Mayor Antonio Decaro, a member of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), says the move by the centre-right central government is linked to June's local elections in the city.
    "I send the accusations of using these measures for political ends back to the sender," Meloni said during a visit to Campobasso for the signing of an agreement with the Molise Region on cohesion and development funds.
    "We have not gone too far.
    "We would have gone too far if we had not ordered an inspection that would have been ordered in the same conditions for any other Italian municipality.
    "Frankly, I think the accusations levelled at Minister Piatendosi are shameful.
    "I think the minister acted correctly.
    "It is an inspection that had to be carried out.
    "And it is exactly the same measure that would have been used with any other municipality".
    The central government's move, linked to a judicial probe into alleged political-mafia electoral deals in the 2019 local elections in which Decaro was re-elected for a second term, could lead to the dissolution of the city council.
    Decaro has lived under police escort since 2016 due to his anti-mafia activity in the Puglia regional capital.
    He has said would ditch his escort if even a whiff of wrongdoing touched him or his administration Thousands of people took part in a march in Bari on Saturday to show solidarity with Decaro after the inspection was launched.
    Several papers on Monday ran photos of Decaro allegedly in the company of the sister and niece of Bari mafia boss and lifer Antonio Capriati.
    Decaro said "the women in the photos do not belong to that part of the family engaged in mafia activities." On Sunday Decaro denied Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano's assertion that the two of them had visited Capriati's sister some years ago, saying Emiliano was misrembering.
    Emiliano had said, standing beside Decaro at Saturday's rally, that the sister had "vouched" for the then future mayor.
    The interior ministry says its inspection is all the more warranted after the municipal transport company was placed in receivership after dozens of people were arrested in a mafia infiltration probe.
    The suspects in the probe include Tommaso 'Tommy' Parisi, a singer and son of the Japigia district mafia boss Savino, who has already been sentenced to eight years for mafia association at first instance, former regional councillor and lawyer Giacomo Olivieri, and Olivieri's wife, city councillor Maria Carmen Lorusso.
    Decaro has said his anti-Mob activities have led to Bari's 14 mafia clans being "decapitated".
    He has also said some level of mafia vote buying is endemic to southern Italy. (ANSA).