Mayor of Rome is summoned to testify by appointment of adviser

The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, was summoned to appear at the prosecutor’s office next Thursday to testify in an investigation into the appointment of the brother of a former aide, who was arrested in December for corruption.

Virginia explained on Tuesday (24) on its Facebook page that the call was due to the case related to the appointment “already revoked” of the head of the Department of Tourism of the City Hall, Renato Marra.

Renato is the brother of Raffaele Marra, one of the mayor’s closest advisers, who was arrested in December on corruption charges for a 2013 investigation.

“I am very calm, I have complete confidence in the judiciary, as always. We are prepared to give any clarification,” wrote the mayor in the social network.

Virginia, of the Five-Star Movement (M5S), will appear before the Prosecutor’s Office Jan. 30, local media reports that the mayor is being investigated for a crime of abuse of authority, as was Raffaele Marra himself.

Marra was arrested in December for alleged corruption committed in 2013, when she was at the helm of the Housing Department in the management of Gianni Alemanno of the National Alliance party.

Her arrest came days after the controversial resignation of Rome Environment Adviser Paola Muraro, accused of several crimes in her 12 years as advisor to the public garbage disposal company, AMA.

After the scandals in the Italian capital city, M5S militants approved a code of ethics in early January, which stipulates that investigations into one of their representatives would not imply an immediate sanction, such as expulsion, as this would only occur in a case of a sentence For a crime committed intentionally. Some media outlets then considered that the code was designed to protect Virginia.