«Black money for election campaign? Give me the whole shot, I ask officially, I am very rigid, I was impressed, but I do not evaluate an executive I have known for more than 20 years on the basis of a video broadcast two days after the vote, curiously ». So Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, on the sidelines of the press conference in Rome for the closing of the electoral campaign by responding to those who ask her about the Fanpage video on alleged black financing to her party and on alleged Nazi sympathies of some leaders. The images concern Carlo Fidanza, head of delegation of the Brothers of Italy to the European Parliament, who in the video shown is indicated as the reference figure by the neo-Nazis and explicitly discusses how to find illicit funding: “He must immediately step back and resign” ask the opposing political forces. And Meloni adds: “I am ready to take the appropriate decisions when I see real responsibilities.” Then the leader of the Brothers of Italy recalls how “with all the managers, both on the issue of honesty and on the relationships that should not be had with certain environments, I have always been very clear. There is – he explains – place in the Brothers of Italy for racists, anti-Semites and para-Nazis ».
The words of Fidanza: “Never received illegal funding, I suspend myself”
“After seeing the service packaged last night by Fanpage and broadcast by Piazzapulita, I want to reiterate to my friends, my constituents and those of my entire party that I have never received irregular funding and that specifically, on several occasions that unfortunately have not been broadcast, I reiterated to the “infiltrated journalist” who claimed to want to contribute to the electoral campaign of a candidate the need to do so in the manner prescribed by current legislation. The fact that these further talks were not broadcast says a lot about the seriousness of this investigation and helps to give a totally distorted image of me and my political activity, “Fidanza said in a note. “In any case, in joining my party’s request to obtain the full films concerning me without cuts or tampering so that they can be viewed by the competent FdI bodies, at the request of Giorgia Meloni, I consider it appropriate to self-suspend myself from any party role and activity in order to preserve Brothers of Italy from instrumental attacks »announces Fidanza.
The Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office
Meanwhile, the Milan Public Prosecutor has opened an investigation with the hypothesis of illegal financing of parties and money laundering to shed light on the matter. But other accusations are also being examined, such as the apologia for fascism. The proceeding was opened on the basis of a complaint presented by the spokespersons of the Greens Angelo Bonelli and Eleonora Evi. The investigations on the matter will be carried out by the economic-financial police unit of the GdF under the coordination of the deputy Maurizio Romanelli and prosecutors Giovanni Polizzi and Piero Basilone. Among the very first investigations made is the acquisition of the full video of Fanpage, material that would have been collected in three years of undercover work in the circles of the Milanese right.
Bonelli and Evi ask the Milan chief prosecutor to intervene “as quickly as possible in order to avoid further consequences and possible repetitions of behavior”. Furthermore, we ask “to be informed of any request for an extension of the investigation and to be notified of any request for dismissal”. In the complaint, particular reference is made to two passages of the video investigation: when the European parliamentarian of Fdi Carlo Fidanza “asks the entrepreneur (the infiltrated journalist, ed) for funding for the electoral campaign in ‘Black’, that is, in black” and when Roberto Jonghi Lavarini known as the Black Baron, «coordinator of the Fdi election campaign in Milan, explains that through their accountants they have ‘washing machines’ to clean up the money paid in black. The Black Baron always explains to the entrepreneur that they used the washing machine system in other electoral circumstances ».