Former Italy minister gets 4 years'
2013-02-13 18:16
Rome - A former minister and leading candidate for Silvio
Berlusconi's party in February elections was on Wednesday convicted and
sentenced to four years in prison for corruption and other crimes.
Raffaele Fitto, 43, served in Berlusconi's conservative
government from 2008 to 2011 as a regional affairs minister.
He is now a top candidate for the conservative People of
Freedom (PDL) party in 24 to 25 February elections.
He can still run in the elections as the conviction can
be appealed. Fitto is to address the media about his plans later on Wednesday.
A court in Bari ruled that the $672 000 Fitto was given
by a businessman to finance a campaign in 2005 was a bribe for a rigged public
tender he awarded when he was regional governor of Apulia from 2000 to 2005.
The businessman, Giampaolo Angelucci, was jailed for
three and a half years.
Fitto, a parliamentarian since 2006, was banned from
public office for five years.
He was also found guilty of abuse of power for the
irregular financing of Catholic Church activities when he was governor.
He might face a second trial over another suspect deal
with a businessman.
The court has asked prosecutors to investigate the
circumstances under which Apulia's publicly owned airport company paid
advertising money to local TV channel owner Paolo Pagliaro, who supported
Fitto's electoral campaigns.
Berlusconi said: "The big hand of the judiciary is
entering the election campaign," referring to Fitto and Roberto Formigoni,
the outgoing PDL governor of Lombardy who was charged with corruption on
Tuesday.
- SAPA
