Di Maio admits he 'made a mistake'

(ANSA) - Rome, September 7 - House Deputy Speaker Luigi Di Maio of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) admitted Wednesday he "made a mistake" about an email from a fellow lawmaker apprising him that a member of Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi's cabinet is under criminal investigation. Di Maio has been denying all knowledge of the probe, until the email dated August 5 was published today by Il Messaggero newspaper in an exclusive. "I underestimated it," Di Maio said at a rally in the coast town of Nettuno after the website of Il Messaggero daily paper posted an emailed letter by M5S Senator Paola Taverna to Di Maio, in which she told him that Muraro was reportedly under investigation and that she may face fraud charges. This made her incompatible with office and therefore she should be removed at once. Di Maio, who belongs to a so-called M5S directorate which is supposed to oversee Raggi's doings in Rome, has strenuously denied knowing anything about the Muraro investigation. Taverna in the letter also called for the removal of Raggi's deputy cabinet chief Raffaele Marra for incompatibility with public office. Marra has been criticised for having worked for the hard right former mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno during his 2008-2013 term in the heyday of the so-called Capital Mafia organized crime ring of gangsters, businessmen and politicians that covertly ran the city. Taverna urged Di Maio to share the information with the rest of the directorate, whose members have so far denied having been apprised of the situation.
    At tonight's rally, Di Maio admitted he was wrong not to pass the message on to them.
    Earlier today, he accused the media of conspiring against him and the M5S and blowing the Muraro case out of proportion.