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. 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.
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