ROME (AP) - A man whose arrest sparked Italy’s Clean Hands corruption scandal in the 1990s has been apprehended in another case of alleged bribery, officials said Tuesday.
Mario Chiesa was arrested in 1992 after receiving $6,500 in kickbacks for a maintenance contract in the nursing home he ran in Milan. His cooperation with authorities led to scores more arrests and helped uncover a pervasive network of corrupt businessmen and politicians.
On Tuesday, Italian police said they had arrested Chiesa for his alleged role in a scam involving garbage disposal in Milan and elsewhere in northern Italy. He was one of eight people apprehended, with two others being placed under house arrest, police said.
The suspects are charged with criminal association and fraud, Italian news reports said.
Authorities allege Chiesa used his long-established contacts to win contracts for garbage disposal companies and get kickbacks in the process. Those companies would then allegedly fix their books to claim they had handled more waste than they had.
Lt. Col. Michele Sarno of the Carabinieri in Treviso said investigators were both surprised and dismayed to discover Chiesa’s involvement, given his past.
A former real estate developer, Chiesa became a symbol of the Clean Hands probes.
He was the first one to be picked up in what would become Italy’s massive corruption scandals, and the date of his arrest, Feb. 17, 1992, is considered a watershed moment in recent Italian history.
The Clean Hands probes brought down the political parties that had dominated postwar Italy, including the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, and many of their leaders.
Critics say, however, that Italy has still failed to put in place proper anti-corruption legislation and other measures to prevent more scandals.
Chiesa was convicted for his involvement in the Clean Hands corruption scandals, and served his sentences doing socially useful work. As of 2000, he was a free man.
He was close to Socialist leader Bettino Craxi, the former premier who died in 2000 in self-imposed exile and disgrace.
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