House votes to approve Galan's arrest

MP suspected of corruption in MOSE flood-barrier probe

(ANSA) - Rome, July 22 - Italy's Lower House on Tuesday voted to allow the arrest of Forza Italia (FI) MP and former Veneto governor Giancarlo Galan in relation to a probe into alleged corruption in the multi-billion-euro MOSE flood-prevention system in Venice.

Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's opposition centre-right FI party had unsuccessfully requested a postponement on grounds that hospitalisation due to complications arising from a plastered leg prevented Galan from being present to defend his position. The vote on lifting the parliamentary immunity from arrest of the two-time minister had been postponed several times previously

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The House approved the arrest with 395 votes in favour, 138 against and two abstentions. Galan denies wrongdoing. He was Veneto governor from 1995 to 2010 before becoming agriculture minister for Berlusconi in 2010 and culture minister the year after. After the vote, Galan's defence lawyers said they would file a request for him to be put under house arrest.

Sources said doctors at a hospital in the Veneto town of Este have signed a letter for his discharge. "He may go to a prison clinic in Parma, Opera or Bologna, he may remain here (in Este) or his may go to a prison infirmary. I don't think he'll go into a cell," said Antonio Franchini, one of Galan's lawyers. "They'll arrest him within an hour so he can't do anything of his own free will".