ROME -  Amid calls for her resignation, Italian Justice Minister Annamaria Cancellieri will testify before Parliament on Tuesday to clarify her involvement in the prison release of family friend Giulia Ligresti.

 

Giulia Ligresti was arrested in July for her alleged involvement in a false accounting scandal at the Fondiaria-SAI insurance group. Then in August she was released from jail and put under house arrest.

 

Italians recently grew concerned about the Justice Minister's involvement in the release when La Repubblica newspaper published the transcipt of a telephone coversation in which the minister told the Ligresti family "you can count on me." Minister Cancellieri has been a close friend to the Ligresti family for many years and her son had even worked as an executive at Fondiaria-SAI from 2011 to 2012, earning several million euro.

 

 

The Turin court involved in the case has said that the minister's intervention had no bearing on the release of Signora Ligresti, stating that she was let go after a medical examination found prison could be a "danger" to her health.

 

However, Italians have continued to request further clarification. Members of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) have called for a no-confidence motion to be held on the minister. M5S leader Beppe Grillo wrote on his popular blog Saturday that the minister's move "could appear to be the payment of a debt after her son's gain." The Democratic Party (PD) has also asked the minister to address Parliament for clarification of the issue. Meanwhile, many Italians have mobilised on social media to call for the minister's resignation.