Probe finds Swiss link in Italian scandal
Investigators probing the financial scandal surrounding the rightwing Italian party Lega Nord have discovered accounts and a fictitious firm in Switzerland.
Several million euros flowed into the accounts of the Lugano-registered company, which was declared bankrupt in March and operated under the cover of building and plastering work.
The Swiss connection emerged from thousands of documents seized by Milan investigators from the party’s headquarters.
The company was owned by the former Lega Nord treasurer who is a key figure in the scandal. The money appears to have been embezzled from funds reimbursed for election expenses, investigators say.
The investigators plan to travel to the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in the coming days.
Lega Nord is a populist party whose historical goal is to seek a federalist fiscal system to prevent tax revenues collected in the richer northern regions of Italy being transferred to the poorer south. In recent years it has also campaigned on an anti-immigration platform.
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