Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè is
under investigation in Milan in relation to allegations of
fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounting regarding the
Visibilia publishing group that she founded, sources said on
Thursday.
Santanchè, a senior member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers
of Italy (FdI) party, said she was not being probed on Wednesday
when she responded in the Senate to allegations about her
business activities that had been reported in the media.
The sources said Santanchè has been under investigation since
October along with five other people who had roles in the
company, including her sister Fiorella Garnero and her parter
Dimitri Kuntz D'Asburgo, the former president of Visibilia
Editore.
Santanchè has been facing calls from opposition parties to quit
since Rai investigative journalism show Report ran a story with
allegations that businesses linked to her allegedly failed to
pay suppliers and allegedly dismissed workers without giving
them the redundancy payments that were due to them.
Her business have also been accused of improperly receiving
COVID aid.
The opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) presented a motion of no
confidence in Santanchè after her report to the Senate .
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has said it will back the
motion.
"The M5S did not immediately present a no-confidence motion, it
waited for the Senator to report to the Upper House," M5S
lawmaker Michele Gubitosa told Rai television on Thursday.
"The judicial question has nothing to do with it. The Senate is
not a court.
"But yesterday the minister lied to the Senate and after the
lies we asked for her resignation".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
