LEGNANO - Matteo Salvini’s League have been hit by once more by a political scandal after the Mayor of Legnano was placed under house arrest for alleged corruption. The local councillor for public works and the local budget councillor, both of the Forza Italia party, have also been detained and are under house arrest and in prison respectively, police sources said.

 Gianbattista Fratus, Legnano’s Mayor and a member of the League party, is accused of electoral corruption and, according to prosecutors, “a very scarce sense of legality.”

 “I do not comment on ongoing investigations, I trust my men and in the judiciary. I hope that these investigations will be quickly closed to identify who is guilty and who is innocent,” League leader Salvini said after the event.

 Luigi Di Maio, Salvini’s coalition partner, however took a different view on the matter, telling journalists: “It is clear and evident that there is a corruption emergency… The League is a party that puts its coalition partners in difficulty. [The 5 Star Movement] are a barrier between us and lawlessness, privileges and extremism.”

 Di Maio, in reference to this month’s European elections in which his 5 Star Movement are lagging behind the League in the polls, went on to add: “Someone said they trusted their men, [but] I trust Italians.”

 This latest corruption scandal comes in the wake of Armando Siri’s dismissal from the Cabinet for allegedly taking bribes from a businessman linked to the Sicilian Mafia in return for introducing favourable legislation. The League’s deputy transport minister was fired by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the start of May after sustained pressure from the 5 Star Movement and other political parties.

ea