Tourism Minister is under investigation in Milan in relation to allegations of fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounting regarding the Visibilia publishing group that she founded.
Daniela Santanchè is a senior member of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party. On Wednesday, she said she was not being probed when responding to questions in the Senate. There had been allegations about her business activities reported in the media.
Sources said Santanchè has been under investigation since October, along with five other people who had roles in the company. These include her sister Fiorella Garnero and her partner Dimitri Kuntz D’Asburgo, the former president of Visibilia Editore.
Santanchè has been facing calls from opposition parties to quit. A Rai investigative journalism show, Report, ran a story with allegations that businesses linked to her allegedly failed to pay suppliers and allegedly dismissed workers without giving them the redundancy payments due to them.
Her businesses have also been accused of improperly receiving COVID aid.
The opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) presented a motion of no confidence in Santanchè after her report to the Senate. The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has said it will back the motion.
