Nordio says 'perplexed' about timing of Toti arrest

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 7 - Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said Tuesday he was "perplexed" about the timing of the house arrest of Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti in a graft probe noting that the probe had started three years ago.
    "I don't know the facts and as a defendants' rights advocate I always think of the presumption of innocence, But I seem to have understood that it is a case of facts that date back several years and that the probe was not born today but some time ago," he said.
    "I spent 40 years as a prosecutor and I rarely asked for detentive measures after years of investigations.
    "My perplexity is never on the moment that the precautionary measure is triggered via a vis the imminence of elections, but it is if I have technical perplexity regarding a measure with respect to the time in which the crime was committed and the investigation began".
    Some have suggested 'clockwork justice' aimed at hitting Toti in the run-up to the European elections, a suggestion Nordio rejected. (ANSA).