Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that he will report to parliament about suspicions a person close to his League party discussed taking funding via oil kickbacks from Russia.
"I certainly will go to parliament," Salvini said in Genoa when asked about calls for him to report to the parliament over the case.
"That is my job. I go bi-weekly and for the question-time session, during which I respond about all human knowledge, always". Salvini said his party has not taken a rouble off the Russians and described the case as "ridiculous".
Milan prosecutors opened a probe after reports that Lombardy-Russia Association President Paolo Savoini met with two other Italians and three Russian in a Moscow hotel to discuss siphoning off an alleged 65 million euros from oil profits.
The minister has denied inviting Savoini to take part in two bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin recently.
On Tuesday Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco said there was "absolutely" no need to question Salvini about the case, adding that it was set to be a "long, complex, difficult" probe.
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