The Tourism Minister, Daniela Santanchè, has dismissed claims that she was asked to resign following her indictment for alleged false accounting linked to her former publishing company, Visibilia.
Speaking on Friday at the opening of the 17th Motor Bike Expo in Verona, Santanchè, a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, described her relationship with the prime minister as unchanged. “Nobody asked me to take a step back,” she told reporters. “I have always said that I am absolutely calm because I know how things stand.”
Santanchè, 63, left her roles at Visibilia in 2022, prior to her appointment as Tourism Minister. The company, now in administration, has been at the centre of allegations of false corporate communications. Prosecutors accuse Santanchè and 16 others, including her partner Dimitri Kunz and her sister Fiorella Garnero, of manipulating balance sheets between 2016 and 2022 to mask losses worth millions of euros.
Santanchè has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to defend herself in the trial, set to begin in March. The case is part of broader scrutiny surrounding her past business activities, which have already sparked political tensions.
Last year, Santanchè survived a no-confidence motion in the Senate related to accusations that her former business failed to pay suppliers, dismissed workers without redundancy payments, and improperly obtained COVID relief funds.
Addressing the potential implications of the trial, she reiterated her readiness to resign if evidence of misconduct emerges regarding COVID funds. “I have always said that, in the event of a judgement on the COVID funds, where I understand that there could be political implications, I would not have hesitated to take a step back,” Santanchè said. “But we haven’t reached this point. I am continuing to work.”
