ROME - The former President of the National Magistrates Association (ANM) Luca Palamara is under investigation for alleged corruption, judicial sources have said.

 The investigation, as brought to light by La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, centres on purported benefits bestowed on Palamara by Fabrizio Centofanti, a former aide close to business mogul Francesco Bellavista Caltagirone himself arrested for corruption in 2018, and favourable relations Palamara may have with former Democratic Party undersecretary Cosimo Ferri.

 La Repubblica posits that these relationships may well influence the succession of Rome’s Prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone who is stepping down after seven years on the job. Palermo’s Prosecutor Fanco Lo Voi is currently in pole position for the job, however Florence’s Prosecutor Marcello Viola, a man “more easily controlled,” is seen as the preferred candidate for Palamara and his allies.

 Italy’s High Council of the Judiciary (CSM) has disclosed that it has opened an investigation into the allegations, despite Palamara’s professed innocence.

 “I have learnt from the press that I am under investigation for a serious and shameful crime… I am asking the Prosecutor of Perugia to be questioned at once because I want to be able to clarify… any matter that may directly or indirectly affect me,” Palamara, who was a constituent member of the CSM up until last year, told the press.

 “Never, and I stress never, would I trade my job and profession for anything, and I have too great a respect for the CSM’s prerogative to allow myself to interfere with its decisions and in particular its choice of Rome’s Prosecutor and their deputies,” the accused later added.

ea