Salvini to take legal action over Verdini ANAS 'slanders'

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 4 - Deputy Premier and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday he and his partner Francesca Verdini are to take legal action in relation to their alleged "inappropriate implication" in media reports about a case of allegedly rigged contracts for motorway company ANAS in which the latter's father, former Berlusconi ally Denis Verdini, and her brother Tommaso have been placed under investigation.
    "I have the honour and the duty of taking on delicate responsibilities, always in total independence, in the exclusive interest of Italy to promote the unblocking, acceleration and planning of public works that have been at a standstill for years," said Salvini.
    "To be implicated inappropriately in matters I know nothing about is no longer tolerable," he continued.
    "The lawsuits are starting today, on my part and on the part of my partner Francesca Verdini, who like me has been involved for no reason in several articles, with the commitment to donate to charity all compensation that the slanderers will be ordered to pay," concluded Salvini.
    On Sunday Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party on Sunday rallied around Salvini over claims he may have been involved in the ANAS case.
    "On the ANAS contracts there is an ongoing investigation which began well before the current government took office, and which does not involve Matteo Salvini, nor any other political figure, so let's wait for developments", said FdI.
    The opposition has called on Salvini, who is also the leader of the right-wing government coalition partner League, to brief parliament on the case, a call he has rejected.
    Judicial sources said on Wednesday that Tommaso Verdini, his business partner Fabio Pileri and other suspects had availed themselves of the right not to answer during questioning by a preliminary investigations judge in Rome. (ANSA).