ROME- Senator of the Italian Nuovo Centra Destra party (New Centre Right party)Antonio Azzollini was spared house arrest on Wednesday when the Senate voted against a request for his arrest. The request came in the form of a petition, campaigning for Azzollini’s arrest after he was put under investigation for having allegedly participated in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Catholic care home chain theProvidenza Divina (The Divine Providence). The high profile case, worth 500-million euros, has affected the employment of 1,600 people.

The petition, written up by prosecutors from Trani, South Italy, was rejected in the secret vote by a vast majority of the Senate members. 189 members voted against his arrest, 96 in favour and 17 absentees, despite a Senate panel previously voting for the Azzollini’s arrest on July 8.

The majority of those who voted against were senators from major party the PD (Democratic Party), a turnaround from the party’s previous vote for Azzollini’s arrest. The change was said to come from political whip Luigi Zanda, who allowed PD senators to vote as they wished. According to Italian journalist Marcello Sorgi from newspaper La Stampa, it is probable that Zanda overturned the original decision because he knew that many of the PD senators would not agree with a vote in favour of Azzollini’s house arrest.

Pier Luigi Bersani, former secretary of the PD, has criticised Italian premier Renzi (head of the PD), saying that he should have told the senators how to vote. The vice secretary of the PD, Debora Serracchiani, later said that she would have voted in favour of the arrest, and has said that “we (the PD) must apologise for the result”.

Strong outcry has been heard from the Cinque Stelle (Five Stars) political party and right-wing separatist party Lega Nord: Cinque Stelle’s chief Beppe Grillo said that, “the law is not equal for everybody, Azzollini has been saved by the PD”.

Repubblica journalist Stefano Folli has said that the result has been a “mess” for the PD, which has shown a complete incoherence in its beliefs. He continued by saying that the party’s decisions are solely based on its needs rather than on moral grounds, and that the vote has proven the ever closer relationship between the PD and Azzollini’s party, Nuova Centra Destra.