Abruzzo Governor Ottaviano Del Turco was arrested Monday in connection with an alleged public health scam in the eastern Italian region.
Del Turco, 63, a former Socialist trade union leader and ex-finance minister, was arrested with nine others on suspicion of fraud, corruption, embezzlement and money laundering involving some 14 million euros.
Del Turco is suspected of taking a bribe of almost six million euros, police sources said.
As well as the 11 people arrested, 25 others were placed under investigation for suspected kickbacks.
Most of the officials involved are members of the Democratic Party (PD), Italy's largest opposition party.
Del Turco, one of Italy's most prominent former Socialists, is a member of the PD's 45-strong national council.
After a career in trade unionism Del Turco rose to the top of Bettino Craxi's Socialist Party before it was swept away in the Bribesville scandals of 1992-'94.
He stayed on the centre left and served as head of parliament's Anti-Mafia Commission between 1996 and 2000, when he was named finance minister.
He was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 but stepped down after his election as Abruzzo governor in 2005.
