Ticino prosecutor condemns media handling of Ticinogate
The public prosecutor in canton Ticino, Luca Marcellini, has lashed out at the media's handling of the corruption scandal, known as Ticinogate.
Dismissing media reports of the last few days as destabilising, malicious and pure fantasy, Marcellini said he had himself been the victim of libel.
He also suggested changes to Swiss law to help the fight against organised smuggling.
Marcellini, who had himself come briefly under suspicion in the scandal involving the Italian businessman, Gerardo Cuomo, angrily rebuffed attacks on the canton’s justice authorities.
In Friday’s statement, he rejected accusations that there had been any obstruction of justice, complicity, favouritism or concealment.
Cuomo, who has been in police custody in Switzerland since May 10, is accused of cigarette smuggling and money laundering on behalf of the Italian Mafia.
The Ticino judge, Franco Verda, was arrested last Friday for allegedly colluding with Cuomo.
Switzerland has come under criticism for failing to offer legal assistance in the case which it was unable to do because cigarette smuggling is purely a customs offence under Swiss law.
Marcellini proposed changes in this area of the law.
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