GIULIO TREMONTI is a crucial figure in Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative government: a guarantor for the markets of the fiscal rigour that has so far kept Italy out of the debt crisis sweeping the euro zone periphery. Until now, moreover, Mr Tremonti has been untainted by the financial and sexual scandals that have besmirched the prime minister and several members of his administration.
But on July 7th a scandal involving allegations of graft in high places came uncomfortably near his door. It was announced that judges in Naples had issued an arrest warrant for one Marco Milanese, a lawmaker accused of corruption who, until nine days earlier, was Mr Tremonti’s political adviser and one of his closest associates. Worse was to come. Since Mr Milanese is a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian parliament, he cannot be arrested immediately and so the prosecutors have had to apply to parliament for leave to proceed.
According to Italian media reports, the documents accompanying their request showed that Mr Milanese was paying the €8,500 ($12,200) a month rent on the apartment used by the finance minister in Rome. Shortly afterwards, Mr Tremonti issued a statement acknowledging that he had “accepted the offer made to me by [Mr] Milanese for the temporary use of part of the property”. He said that, after finding out about the prosecutors’ initiative, he would change his arrangements “as of this evening”.
It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to distance him from a scandal that clearly has a long way yet to run. In an earlier statement of their own, the prosecutors said Marco Milanese was wanted on suspicion of having supplied confidential official information to a businessman in return for “significant cash payments and other gifts such as expensive watches, jewels, luxury cars (Ferrari and Bentley) and holidays abroad”. He was also alleged to have given jobs in firms controlled by the finance ministry to two other men in return for favours.
Caught on camera
The arrest warrant for Mr Milanese was the latest in a string of embarrassments for the finance minister this week. Earlier in the day, the web site of La Repubblica, a daily, made available a video recording of a press briefing by ministers in which Mr Tremonti was unwittingly caught describing one of his cabinet colleagues as a “moron”.
The briefing was held to provide details of a four-year, €40 billion package of deficit-cutting measures drawn up by the Treasury. On July 4th it was discovered the bill contained a measure—subsequently withdrawn—that would have allowed Fininvest, the core firm in Mr Berlusconi’s business empire, to suspend the payment of compensation of up to €750 million. Mr Tremonti has since intimated that the clause was sneaked into the legislation by the prime minister’s office. But Mr Berlusconi said it had been discussed in cabinet and that his finance minister had regarded it as “sacrosanct”.
Read on: As Tremonti struggles to rein in the deficit, Berlusconi attempts a shameless budget manoeuvre
Credits: The Economist
