Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: Prodi-Ancora THE TIMES

 
www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times
(Registrazione gratuita)
December 7 1999
Italians press rail graft case against Prodi
THE Italian Radical Party, in a surprising move led by Emma Bonino, the
former European Commissioner, called on Romano Prodi, the European
Commission's President, yesterday to resign over accusations of
irregularities in connection with the Italian high- speed railway project.
Marco Pannella, the veteran leader of the maverick libertarian party, urged
the former Prime Minister to quit "at high speed" after allegations of
corruption and negligence were levelled at Signor Prodi last week by
Ferdinando Imposimato, a respected former judge and former senator.
He claims that the Commissioner, in a previous incarnation as the guarantor
of the high-speed railway project and subsequently as the chairman of
Italy's IRI holding concern, effectively turned a blind eye to infiltration
of the huge, 140 billion lire (£46 billion)project by the vicious Neapolitan
version of the Mafia, the Camorra.
Signor Prodi should resign his Brussels post "well before the Italian
magistrates, and the Italian and European parliaments, proceed against him
officially for his serious responsibilities in Italian cases of very grave
public corruption with European ramifications", Signor Pannella said.
On Friday, Franco Ricardo Levi, a spokesman for Signor Prodi, denied any
wrong-doing or incorrect behaviour by Signor Prodi in relation to the
railway project. Signor Ricardo Levi said that, as guarantor of the rail
project, Signor Prodi had no operational or decision-making role. "He was
simply responsible for the scientific checks on the environmental impact of
the project, a post that was unpaid."
Nevertheless, Signor Pannella's statement was supported by the party's
European MPs and its slate for the Strasbourg legislature, which is led by
Signora Bonino, the feisty former European Commissioner for Fisheries and
Humanitarian Affairs, who still has considerable influence in Brussels.
The conservative "post-fascist" National Alliance echoed the Radicals' call
for resignation, also urging the centre-left Italian Government "to refer
officially in parliament on what it knows" about the questions that were
raised by Signor Imposimato.
Signor Imposimato says that he was condemned to death by the Camorra for his
investigation into the infiltration of the train project by firms controlled
by the crime gang, which in many cases were, in turn, subsidiaries of IRI.
A series of investigations by Italian magistrates against Signor Prodi for
alleged impropriety while he was IRI president, focusing on an alleged
conflict of interest with his previous activities as a private business
consultant, were shelved with no evidence found against him. However, Signor
Imposimato has denied suggestions that he has any ulterior motive in
accusing the Commission chief.
Signor Imposimato claims that, as Prime Minister, Signor Prodi mounted a
high-level cover-up against investigations into the train project and that
the former judge's repeated efforts to urge Signor Prodi to take action then
to eradicate the organised crime infiltration were rebuffed.
Signor Pannella said that his party's radio station, Radical Radio, which
has a long anti-establishment tradition and a wide audience, had covered the
presentation at the Rome Foreign Press Club on Friday of Signor Imposimato's
potentially explosive book, High Speed Corruption: A Voyage Inside Invisible
Government, which he wrote with a criminal lawyer and television journalist.
All other Italian media, not wishing to upset Signor Prodi, had ignored the
presentation, he said.
"Only The Times of London wrote about this book," Signor Pannella said. "It
was ignored by the duopoly of television controlled by the State and the
private Mediaset corporation."
In Brussels last night, Signor Prodi's spokesman at Breydel Palace, the
Commission headquarters, said it was "out of the question" that he step down
over the affair. "The accusations contained in the book are absolutely
senseless and groundless," Signor Ricardo Levi said.
But Signor Imposimato, the spokesman for the Italian Social Democrat Party
on justice issues, stuck to his guns, insisting that the Commission
President was "politically and morally censurable in connection to the Treni
Alta Velocitá [high-speed train] affair".
Brussels: Romano Prodi yesterday dismissed the charges as "baseless" and
shrugged off calls to resign (Martin Fletcher writes). "It's an entirely
baseless accusation," Franco Ricardo Levi, Signor Prodi's spokesman, said of
the claims by Ferdinando Imposimato. He added that Signor Prodi was
supervising a study to assess the rail project's environmental impact. He
had no decision-making powers and received no remuneration. Signor Ricardo
Levi refused to discuss Signor Imposimato's motives.

 Italians press rail graft case against Prodi
Ti ricordo che il Times è il giornale MENO autorevole per panorama
giornalistico Britannico, dopo naturalmente il fratellino The SUN. Guarda
che li conosco bene dato che ci ho lavorato
Ciao
Corrado

...


 wrote in message
82oqr0$fic$1...@fe1.cs.interbusiness.it...

A Londra (Wapping)
A Liverpool
A Glasgow
No ero un tecnico, ma conoscevo alcuni giornalisti, soprattutto di Today.
Non so, io citerei il Daily Mail, The Independent, Daily Mirror, The
Guardian
Se tu avessi parlato con degli inglesi sapresti che The Times è considerato
il SUN della Upper Class. Non a caso molte notizie del Sun (scandalistiche
naturalmente), vengono riportate pari pari il giorno successivo da The Times
Ciao
Corrado
P.S.
Il tuo commento alla mia affermazione che il Times è un quotidiano schierato
e poco attendibile?

...


 in rete.
Non è questione di atorevolezza ma di civiltà. Gli inglesi sono molto più
seri: per il caso delle loro spie al soldo del KGB hanno già aperto da tempo
un'inchiesta. Da noi i soliti del centrosinistra stanno cercando di
insabbiare tutto.
Alb.

 Guardian
Lo già fatto io un mese fa: ci sono dei beli atrticoli soprattutto del The
Independent sul conto dell'ex presidente dell'IRI. Il Daily inoltre si è
occupato anche dello scandalo degli elicotteri Augusta... dove guarda caso
Prodi potrebbe essere invischiato.
Alb.

> Lo già fatto io un mese fa: ci sono dei beli atrticoli soprattutto del The
Corrige: l'ho...
PS. Mai scrivere on line :)
Alb.

Magari si trattasse solo di questo.
Di fronte al colossale scandalo (140 mila miliardi)
Mediaset è stata quasi silente.
Alberto B. ha scritto nel messaggio ....
............
