The mother in law of migrant worker
trade unionist, anti-gangmastering activist and Italy's only
black MP Aboubakar Soumahoro on Tuesday agreed to pay one of her
workers two years of unpaid wages as part of a case that has
seen her probed for fraud and embezzlement in running two
migrant farm cooperatives south of Rome and severely embarrassed
her son in law, prompting his self-suspension from his
Green-Left party.
Marie Terese Mukamitsindo, who runs the Karibu and Consorzio Aid
cooperatives, agreed in a legal deal to pay a woman who used to
work for the first coop all owed wages and extras from 2021 to
2022.
Italian police are delving into Mukamitsindo's accounts in an
investigation for embezzlement and aggravated fraud for
suspected false invoicing in connection with the two farm
cooperatives she runs at Latina south of Rome, judicial sources
said Monday.
They said Tuesday they had almost finished winding up their
investigations.
On Sunday cooperative workers said they had been "fooled" by
42-year-old Ivorian-born activist Soumahoro, who has suspended
himself from his Green-Left party although he himself is not
under investigation in the probe.
Soumahoro has also defended his wife, also not under
investigation but believed to have had a role in the coops,
after pictures of her wearing designer clothes and accessories
came out.
He said that the woman, Liliane Murekatete, enjoyed "the right
to fashion".
Soumahoro, a hero to many, became Italy's only current black MP
after the September 25 general election where he was
'parachuted' into a safe Green-Left seat at Modena in
Emilia-Romagna.
He turned up for the first parliamentary session in muddy
wellies to highlight the continued plight of the labourers whose
rights he has been defending against gangmasters and other
exploitation for over a decade.
Police in Latina, a city founded by Mussolini after he reclaimed
the Pomptine Marshes in the 1930s, are going through documents
on funding and grants for the two cooperatives run by
Mukamitsindo.
The are sifting them for evidence of unpaid wages and rents,
judicial sources said.
The Italian Left and Green leaders said Sunday they were looking
closely at the probe while stressing that Soumahoro was not at
the moment directly implicated.
Left leader Nicola Fratoianni said the parties would "assume
full political responsibility" while being "unaware of any
offence" committed by their MP.
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