A kickbacks scandal threatening to destabilise the Italian government deepened on Wednesday as a minister resisted demands he quit over claims he used his influence to get his son a job, then lied about it.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi was already resisting pressure to resign over revelations that a businessman suspected of helping to rig huge public works tenders had given his son, Luca Lupi, a 10,000-euro Rolex watch.
Examining magistrates suspect that the same businessman, Stefano Perotti, organised a job for the recently-graduated son at an engineering firm run by his brother-in-law, at the request of the minister.
Facing down opposition cries of "resign" Lupi told parliament on Wednesday that he was ready to provide detailed responses to all the questions he faces.
"I strongly and clearly state that the objective of my ministry was to ensure that the public works projects were implemented rapidly and to ensure that happened in as transparent and correct a way as possible," he said.
Lupi had said on Tuesday that would never seek favours for his children and that to do so "would have been a grave error and, I presume, a crime."
It emerged on Wednesday that wiretap evidence in the case includes a recording of Lupi calling a senior official in his ministry in June 2014 and telling him: "You must come and meet my son."
Further wiretaps indicate that the official, Ettore Incalza, asked Perotti to arrange things and, by the end of the month, Luca Lupi had his job, media reports said.
Incalza, who was arrested on Monday, was the top official in charge of major public works in Lupi's ministry until the end of last year, when he left to become a consultant.
The minister has described Perotti as a family friend and the wiretaps suggest he was also close to another businessman, Francesco Cavallo, who has also been arrested in the kickbacks case. Several recordings reveal that Cavallo regularly introduced himself to business contacts as "Lupi's man."
- Renzi dilemma -
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was widely reported to have told Lupi to resign to restrict the damage the case is doing to the government's credibility.
But commentators say the centre-left premier cannot simply sack Lupi because he is a leading member of the New Centre Right (NCD), the junior partner in a governing coalition dominated by Renzi's Democratic Party (PD).
With tough parliamentary tests looming over reforms of the legislature and the electoral system, Renzi can ill-afford to lose the backing of the smaller party.
Incalza, his associate Sandro Pacella, Perotti and Cavallo were all arrested on Monday on suspicion of systematically rigging more than 25 billion euros worth of tenders for major public works.
The judges claim that the organised corruption allowed the men to skim off around one percent of the value of contracts for high-speed rail links, new metro lines in Rome and Milan and other huge projects.
The scandal is the biggest of its kind since the "tangentopoli" cases of the early 1990s.
That episode led to the indictment of half the country's lawmakers but, two decades later, Italy is still struggling to shake off a reputation for corruption that economists say has cost the country billions in lost investment.
A kickbacks scandal threatening to destabilise the Italian government deepened on Wednesday as a minister resisted demands he quit over claims he used his influence to get his son a job, then lied about it.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi was already resisting pressure to resign over revelations that a businessman suspected of helping to rig huge public works tenders had given his son, Luca Lupi, a 10,000-euro Rolex watch.
Examining magistrates suspect that the same businessman, Stefano Perotti, organised a job for the recently-graduated son at an engineering firm run by his brother-in-law, at the request of the minister.
Facing down opposition cries of “resign” Lupi told parliament on Wednesday that he was ready to provide detailed responses to all the questions he faces.
“I strongly and clearly state that the objective of my ministry was to ensure that the public works projects were implemented rapidly and to ensure that happened in as transparent and correct a way as possible,” he said.
Lupi had said on Tuesday that would never seek favours for his children and that to do so “would have been a grave error and, I presume, a crime.”
It emerged on Wednesday that wiretap evidence in the case includes a recording of Lupi calling a senior official in his ministry in June 2014 and telling him: “You must come and meet my son.”
Further wiretaps indicate that the official, Ettore Incalza, asked Perotti to arrange things and, by the end of the month, Luca Lupi had his job, media reports said.
Incalza, who was arrested on Monday, was the top official in charge of major public works in Lupi’s ministry until the end of last year, when he left to become a consultant.
The minister has described Perotti as a family friend and the wiretaps suggest he was also close to another businessman, Francesco Cavallo, who has also been arrested in the kickbacks case. Several recordings reveal that Cavallo regularly introduced himself to business contacts as “Lupi’s man.”
– Renzi dilemma –
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was widely reported to have told Lupi to resign to restrict the damage the case is doing to the government’s credibility.
But commentators say the centre-left premier cannot simply sack Lupi because he is a leading member of the New Centre Right (NCD), the junior partner in a governing coalition dominated by Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD).
With tough parliamentary tests looming over reforms of the legislature and the electoral system, Renzi can ill-afford to lose the backing of the smaller party.
Incalza, his associate Sandro Pacella, Perotti and Cavallo were all arrested on Monday on suspicion of systematically rigging more than 25 billion euros worth of tenders for major public works.
The judges claim that the organised corruption allowed the men to skim off around one percent of the value of contracts for high-speed rail links, new metro lines in Rome and Milan and other huge projects.
The scandal is the biggest of its kind since the “tangentopoli” cases of the early 1990s.
That episode led to the indictment of half the country’s lawmakers but, two decades later, Italy is still struggling to shake off a reputation for corruption that economists say has cost the country billions in lost investment.
