ROME: An Italian minister caught up in the country's biggest corruption scandal in two decades resigned Friday, admitting he had to take political responsibility for the rigging of public works tenders that cost taxpayers billions.
But the outgoing Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi, who has not been charged or placed under formal investigation, insisted his personal conduct had been beyond reproach.
"I am not here to defend myself against (criminal) accusations that don't concern me," Lupi said in his resignation speech to the lower house of parliament.
"I'm here to take political responsibility for the choices that I made and that my ministry made. I leave the government with my head held high," he said.
Lupi's impassioned defence came as new leaks from a probe into the allocation of 25 billion euros ($26 billion) worth of infrastructural contracts offered fresh evidence in support of claims the minister used his influence to arrange a temporary job for his son through a businessman and a company implicated in the scam.
- 'No political consequences' -
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who reportedly demanded that Lupi quit as soon as the scandal broke, refuted suggestions the episode would damage his government's credibility or upset the balance of his coalition.
"I don't foresee any political consequences that would affect the government's action," he said after the minister, a member of the New Centre Right (NCD) junior coalition partner, took his bow.
The PM, who has been criticised for dragging his feet over corruption, described Lupi's stand down as "a gesture of great dignity."
Wiretap transcripts published by Corriere della Sera indicate Lupi repeatedly discussed his son with a former ministry official, Ercole Incalza.
Incalza was arrested on Monday and is suspected of being the lynchpin of a corrupt network of top officials and businessmen that judges have dubbed "the system."
Lupi categorically denied the charge of nepotism, saying: "My son had no need of that. Had I wanted to do that, and I didn't, I could have done it (fix a job) myself far more easily," Lupi said.
- Rolex error -
The one error the minister did admit to was not insisting that his son give back a Rolex watch he was given as a graduation present by the same businessman who allegedly arranged his job, Stefano Perotti.
"I didn't ask him to give it back. If this was my mistake, I admit it," the 55-year-old told deputies, pointing out that the luxury timepiece was worth 3,500 euros, rather than the 10,000 euros quoted by the media.
Incalza, Perotti and two others were arrested on Monday as examining magistrates in Florence placed a total of 51 people under formal investigation in connection with the public works probe.
The judges believe the four arrested men controlled the allocation of contracts in a way that enabled them to skim off between one and three percent of their value in "commissions".
Taxpayers incurred far greater costs because the skewing of fair competition for contracts is estimated to have increased the cost of the projects involved by as much as 40 percent.
Italy's pavillion at the upcoming Milan Expo 15 world fair, sections of the high-speed rail and motorway networks, a new port on Sardinia and metro extensions in Rome and Milan were among the major works affected.
The Florence judges appear to have uncovered public sector corruption on a scale unseen since the "Tangentopoli" scandal of early 1990s in which half the country's lawmakers were indicted.
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