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The Italian prosecutor's office announced Thursday (July 11th) to have opened an investigation following press revelations according to which the party of government the League would have requested an occult financing to Russia.
With our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir
The Milan prosecutor's office announced the opening of an investigation for international corruption against Gianluca Savoini, former spokesman for Matteo Salvini , leader of the League and strongman of the Italian government. He allegedly sought funding of around 60 million euros from Russian interlocutors, on the sidelines of an alleged oil contract with the Italian oil company ENI.
The case that was extensively discussed by the weekly L'Espresso in February 2019 resurfaced after the mass media broadcast excerpts from an audio recording of the American news site BuzzFeed ( article in English ).
According to BuzzFeed, this recording dates back to October 18, 2018. Gianluca Savoini talks with two other Italians and three Russian emissaries in a Moscow Metropol Hotel lounge. He praises the qualities of Matteo Salvini, "the European Trump" who wants to change Europe to bring it closer to Russia.
The discussion then focuses on a hydrocarbon delivery project to the Italian giant ENI that would free up more than 60 million euros to finance the Salvini League, in view of the European elections. Following the broadcast of the audio recording, the ENI group strongly denied the alleged contract and Matteo Salvini claims that he "did not receive a single Russian ruble ".