A candidate running in the Sicilian
regional elections for the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI)
party was arrested on corruption charges Thursday.
Barbara Mirabella, former Catania councillor for culture, was
taken to house arrest.
A judge also ordered a year-long ban on activities for two other
persons probed: former Catania Policlinico hospital chief
Francesco Basile, and businessman Giovanni Trovato, who supplied
hospital equipment.
The probe into Mirabella and former university dean Basile, who
was already under investigation for allegedly rigged exams at
Catania's UOC university, regards the organization of the 123rd
national congress of the Italian Society of Surgeons (SIC), of
which the professor is president.
Organizers allegedly paid 10,000 euros in bribes to a company in
which Mirabella was a partner to make sure everything went
smoothly, prosecutors say.
The alleged bribe also paid for services which had nothing to do
with the conference, they said.
Basile is also accused of extorting thousands of euros from
companies with threats that they would no longer supply the
Policlinico with products unless they paid up.
Trovato allegedly paid 5,000 euros in bribes to secure a
contract, the prosecutors said.
Sicily goes to the polls Sunday in a separate vote from the
general election, which FdI is tipped to win, making leader
Giorgia Meloni Italy's first woman premier.
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