ROME- Turnstile figures have revealed that there have been almost two million less visitors to the Milan Expo than have been announced by commissioner Giuseppe Sala, according to Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. In publishing the turnstile data for the months of May and June on Thursday, the first two months of the world fair, the newspaper has presented discrepancies between statements by Sala and the true figures, despite his claims of “complete transparency”.

 For May, Sala quoted 2.7 million visitors, in comparison to the 1,927,600 recorded by the turnstiles, a difference of 772,400.  For July, 3.3 million were said to have entered Expo instead of 2,258,450 logged, more than a million less than Sala’s statement. The variance is estimated to be even greater, by as much as 300,000 people each month, as EXPO pavilion workers, volunteers, security guards and those granted free entry are included in the turnstile data.

 According to Fatto Quotidiano, politicians have confronted Sala following this revelation, including the President of Milan City Council Basilio Rizzo, who has written a letter to the EXPO commissioner, requesting the true figures.

 Also investigating the discrepancy is lawyer Domenico Aiello, the representative of the Lombardy Region in the Expo’s administrative council, who is also an associate of Lombardy President Roberto Maroni. The Milan City Council and the Lombardy Regional Government are two of the biggest shareholders of EXPO2015.

 This issue comes off the back of three other dubious situations concerning Sala and the Expo that remain to be clarified; Sala’s apparent inaction regarding the reclamation of Expo lands; the appointment of Oscar Farinetti, founder of marketplace Eataly, as manager of the regional restaurants of the Expo, without Farinetti having entered a bid; and the permission granted to the Italian Democratic party to hold its national assembly within the Expo enclosure.

 Sala has recently claimed that the number of visitors is not lower than expected, a statement difficult to prove, given that 4.1 million and 4.7 million people were expected to visit in May and June respectively.

 The inflation of visitor numbers has also negatively impacted services that have to organise transport based on the visitor data given. One such service is the railway company Trenord, which has reduced its services for commuters in Milan in order to provide transport to the site, despite train carriages to and from the world fair often being empty, EXPO sources said.