Sources at Venezuela's embassy in
Rome on Monday denied a report in Spanish daily ABC that
Venezuela funded Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement
(M5S) in 2010.
The embassy sources said the report was "false and absurd"
adding that the Venezuelan authorities would take legal action.
The sources said that the movement was "totally unknown in
Venezuela" in 2010.
The M5S was founded in 2009.
According to the report, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro,
who at the time was foreign minister under Hugo Chávez, sent 3.5
million euros to the late Gianroberto Casaleggio, who co-founded
the M5S with comedian-cum-politician Beppe Grillo, via the
country's consulate in Milan.
The embassy sources said that was implausible because, at the
time, the Venezuelan Consul to Milan had only just taken up the
post.
The report is set to cause further tension for the M5S after
a clash at the weekend between Grillo, who has now taken a
backseat, and M5S bigwig Alessandro Di Battista.
The M5S has performed badly in local and regional elections
since winning over 32% of the vote in the 2018 general election
after which it supported two coalition governments led by
Premier Giuseppe Conte - the first an alliance with the
rightwing Northern League and since last year the current
coalition featuring the centre left Democratic Party (PD) and
other smaller groups.
The M5S's support has shrunk to well below 20%, according to
opinion polls, and, in the light of this, on Sunday Di Battista
proposed that the movement should hold a "constituent assembly".
Grillo dismissed that idea, saying it came from people with a
sense of timing like a character from the film Groundhog Day.
The row has led to speculation that the M5S could split.
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