A widening corruption and prostitution probe which has landed the son of Italy's last king in jail was overshadowed on Monday by cross-party demands for a crackdown on the publication of leaked wiretapping evidence.
Transcripts of taped phone conversations involving among others Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, who was arrested last Friday on charges of criminal association, have filled Italian newspapers for the past three days.
But MPs on both sides of the political divide complained that some of the published material involved people outside the investigation and comments that amounted to nothing more than gossip. Taped conversations from the investigation led by
prosecutors in the southern city of Potenza included comments by Vittorio Emanuele on national politicians and remarks by
another person under investigation regarding girls prepared to have sex in exchange for jobs at state broadcaster RAI.
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella said: "This alarming situation cannot continue... lawmakers must intervene". "With all due respect for the freedom of information, certain wiretaps should never be published and the violation of this fundamental rule should be thoroughly investigated and heavy sanctions applied," Mastella said.
Economic Development Minister Pierluigi Bersani of the Democratic Left, the largest party in government, said that "this public lynching is unacceptable" and appealed to the centre-right opposition to help in approving "stronger rules to put an end to this phenomenon".
The Northern League, a populist ally of opposition chief Silvio Berlusconi, re-presented a bill drawn up under the previous government which includes jail terms for journalists who publish confidential wiretapping evidence. Under the terms of the bill, public officials who leak such information risk sentences of up to four years. The rightist National Alliance (AN), the second biggest party in opposition, also called for a clamp down after the Monday papers focused on the alleged involvement of several top AN officials and the name emerged of Daniela Fini, the wife of AN chief and former foreign minister Gianfranco Fini.
Fini's spokesman Salvatore Sottile was placed under house arrest on Friday, accused of helping aspiring showgirls work at RAI in return for sex. Prosecutors say the Sicilian spokesman used rooms at the Foreign Ministry and the premier's office for his assignations with the women. Transcripts published on Monday indicated Sottile's possible involvement in a separate case centring on the alleged attempted sabotage of a 2005 regional election campaign run by rightist leader Alessandra Mussolini.
Mussolini, the granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was a candidate in the 2005 race to become the new head of the regional government of Lazio around Rome, challenging the then governor Francesco Storace of AN. Storace, who allegedly feared that Mussolini's participation would split the right-wing vote, is under investigation together with his former spokesman Nicolo' Accame for possible involvement in a scheme to falsify the signatures presented by Mussolini qualifying her to stand.
Investigators want to question Sottile about a taped conversation with AN Rome city councillor Fabio Sabbatani Schiuma implicating the councillor in the scheme and Sottile's knowledge of it. The conversation was published in left-leaning daily La Repubblica on Monday. La Repubblica also published excerpts from conversations between Fini's wife Daniela and Francesco Proietti Cosimi, Fini's former secretary and AN senator who is under investigation for corruption in the Potenza probe.
In the conversations, Proietti Cosimi and Daniela Fini, who are partners in business, discuss the possibility of getting a male friend of Fini's daughter hired by the post office and the affairs of their two medical supply companies. Top AN officials including Storace said on Monday that the published transcripts were part of a deliberate campaign to discredit AN.
"A relentless press campaign is under way aimed at inflicting serious damage on AN's image and credibility," they said in a statement. "Episodes and facts are emerging from these transcripts which are certainly not of any criminal relevance but are
instead conversations of a private nature," they said. Members of the magistrature also called for tighter controls.
Antonio Patrono, head of the Independent Magistrates' group and a former president of the National Association of Magistrates, said the leaked conversations could hamper investigations and risked damaging the reputations of innocent people.
Two of the biggest scandals to hit Italy over the past year were sparked by the publication of wiretapping information: a bank takeover one which led to the resignation of former Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio and a match-fixing one in the world of soccer.
Meanwhile, Vittorio Emanuele, who is in jail in Potenza, will appear before magistrates on Tuesday for questioning. The 69-year-old prince is accused of recruiting prostitutes for a casino in Campione d'Italia, an Italian enclave in Switzerland.
He is also accused of corruption in connection with the obtaining of licences for illegal gambling machines procured by Sicilian businessman Rocco Migliardi. The prince, who denies all wrongdoing, is accused of using his high-level contacts to help sell the video poker games in Italy and abroad including Libya. Prosecutors also suspect him of links with Mafia clans.
Migliardi was also arrested on Friday together with the mayor of Campione d'Italia, Roberto Salmoiraghi.
In all, seven suspects were jailed on Friday and six placed under house arrest, including Sottile and Migliardi's two sons.
