Trial requested for former Rome mayor Alemanno

Prosecutors allege illegal party funding in 2010 elections

(ANSA) - Rome, September 10 - Italian prosecutors on Wednesday asked that former Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, a one-time national cabinet minister under ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, be sent to trial on charges related to political party funding. Alemanno, along with eight others, was allegedly involved in illegal party funding related to regional elections in 2010.

At that time, Alemanno and former Lazio governor Renata Polverini, who was also under investigation, were members of Berlusconi's now-defunct People of Freedom party. They deny the allegations.

Police said the probe centres on a bogus 30,000-euro kitty set up with false invoices from the consulting firm Accenture to fund a fake survey on the quality of school services, ahead of regional elections Polverini won in March 2010. She quit in September 2012 after one of the many funding scandals that have hit local administrations of all political stripes across Italy in recent years.