Two dozen arrested in graft probe (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, July 4 - Finance police on Monday executed warrants issued by a Rome court to arrest two dozen people in relation to a probe into alleged tax fraud, corruption and money laundering, among other crimes, ANSA sources said. Antonio Marotta, an MP for the centrist Area Popolare (AP) group, is under investigation in relation to the corruption probe and so is Giuseppe Pizza, education undersecretary in Silvio Berlusconi's third and final government from 2008 to 2011.
    Pizza's brother Raffaele Pizza, was among the people arrested on Monday.
    Raffaele Pizza is said to be a middle-man/fixer with strong links to the political world and contacts with many people at the helm of publicly controlled companies. He is suspected of being at the centre of a ring of kickbacks, sources said.
    Police said Raffaele Pizza "exploited stable links with influential political men, often holders of very high institutional positions".
    The finance police said that they suspect Raffaele Pizza used a studio near the parliament to "receive money from illegal origins, hide it and sort it" and in one case had the help of a lawmaker. Investigators said they uncovered transfers for a total 10 million euros justified by false invoices to dodge tax and create slush funds to be used for illegal activities. Giuseppe Pizza, who is suspected of money laundering, is the secretary of a small new Christian Democratic party and is the owner of the historic cross symbol of the once-dominant Catholic party, which was felled by the Tangentopoli bribes scandal of the early 1990s.
    A preliminary investigations judge rejected a request from prosecutors to arrest Marotta, the sources said.