State fraud added to Santanché possible charge list

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 24 - The possible crime of defrauding the Italian State has been added to the possible charge list facing Tourism Minister Daniela Santanché in a reported probe into her allegedly improper business practices, judicial sources said Monday.
    Aggravated State fraud joins the list of suspected crimes allegedly committed by the minister, which already include false accounting and bankruptcy by the high-profile member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party in running the many companies in her Visibilia business galaxy, they said.
    The Senate will examine a no-confidence motion against Santanche' on Wednesday, July 26 The leftwing populist opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) presented the motion after she reported to parliament earlier this month over allegations regarding her business activities.
    The other main opposition group, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), has said it will back the no-confidence motion.
    Santanche' denies all wrongdoing.
    The minister has been facing calls to quit since investigative journalism programme Report on Rai 3 reported that businesses linked to her allegedly failed to pay suppliers and dismissed workers without giving them redundancy payments, as well as allegedly improperly receiving COVID aid. (ANSA).