Santanchè says she wasn't asked to resign

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 24 - Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè on Friday denied she had been asked to resign after being indicted for alleged false accounting at her former publishing company Visibilia.
    Santanchè, a lawmaker in Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, also said her relationship with the prime minister was "as always" when quizzed by reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the 17th edition of the Motor Bike Expo in Verona.
    "Nobody asked me to take a step back", she said.
    "I have always said that I am absolutely calm because I know how things stand", she added.
    The 63-year-old minister, who resigned from her roles in Visibilia, a publishing and advertising agency that is now in administration, before she became minister in 2022, has denied all wrongdoing.
    She was among 17 people indicted last Friday over alleged false corporate communications, including her partner Dimitri Kunz and her sister Fiorella Garnero.
    Prosecutors alleged that the balance sheets were manipulated between 2016 and 2022 to hide millions of euros of losses and enable the company to stay in business.
    The trial, which will begin in March, may not be the only one that will stem from alleged wrongdoing related to the minister's business activities.
    Santanche has survived a no confidence motion in the Senate over her former business allegedly failing to pay suppliers and dismissing workers without giving them redundancy payments and allegedly improperly receiving COVID aid.
    "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 but we haven't reached this point, I am continuing to work", said the minister, who has vowed to clear her name. (ANSA).