Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S) has been dealt a significant blow following the arrest of a top aide to the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, an anti-corruption crusader who was swept into power this year on the promise that she would clean up the city.
The arrest on Friday of Raffaele Marra, who has been nicknamed Raggi’s “Rasputin” and is reportedly under investigation in connection to real-estate deals dating back to 2013, comes just days after the resignation of another city councillor under scrutiny for corruption, and the revelation that police have seized documents from city hall as part of their investigation into the mayor’s hiring practices.
Raggi herself has not been accused of wrongdoing. But the successive scandals raise questions about whether she can maintain the support of M5S’s leadership, including founder Beppe Grillo, given the party’s tough anti-corruption rules that have forced other elected officials in the past to step down if there is even a suggestion of impropriety.
The unfolding scandal has political implications far beyond Rome. M5S – a Eurosceptic and populist party that has a good chance of winning Italy’s next election – scored a big win this month when it helped defeat a constitutional referendum supported by the centre-left prime minister, Matteo Renzi, forcing his resignation.
The momentum M5S gained from that win could be diminished by the chaos that has engulfed Raggi’s administration in Rome, prompting questions about the party’s ability to govern even as it is pushing for Italy’s president to call early elections.
Matteo Orfini, a top official in Renzi’s Democratic party (PD), was quick to link the events in Rome to the party’s leaders – including Grillo – who he said “shared responsibility” for the scandals because they had not heeded warnings that Raggi was “recycling” allegedly dubious officials from previous governments and putting them in her administration.
In the meantime, however, the PD has had its own problems. Marra’s arrest came as the PD mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, announced he would suspend himself from office – at least temporarily – after he learned through media reports that his role as the commissioner of the Milan Expo in 2015 was under investigation.
While the Sala news was significant, it was overshadowed by the implosion of Raggi’s administration, in part because she holds the office with the highest profile in her party.
“The challenge for the Five Star Movement is to show they are a credible alternative and Rome is of course their biggest test. Even with all the caveats – these are investigations for now – all these events taken together give the impression of lack of experience and amateurism, the inability to pick the right people to help you as part of your cabinet,” said Vincenzo Scarpetta, a senior policy analyst at the thinktank Open Europe.
Raggi’s decision to bring Marra into her administration has been a source of controversy for months. Marra previously worked for the former rightwing mayor Gianni Alemanno, whose tenure had been the subject of numerous corruption investigations.
The impact of Marra’s arrest was made worse by the fact that Raggi suffered another defeat just days ago, when Paola Muraro, who was supposed to head the city’s rubbish collection, resigned after she was notified that she was under investigation for earlier work she did as a consultant for Rome’s rubbish collection company.
Raggi had defended her controversial appointment of Muraro for months, saying questions about Muraro’s previous work were merely political smears intended to weaken her.
She said in a press statement that she had probably made a mistake in trusting Marra, saying she had faith in him as a former city official. She expressed faith in the judiciary and said Marra would immediately be replaced.
“I’m sorry for Romans and for Beppe Grillo, who had shown some concern (about him),” she said.
The M5S blog, its main vehicle to communicate with followers, defended the mayor on Thursday night.
“The Five Star Movement is under attack and soon ... it will get much worse,” the blog said. It attacked as “false” reports that offices in city hall had been ransacked by police as part of their search for documents. Instead, the post said, there was a “mere acquisition” of documents by police that were willingly made available to authorities by the mayor’s office without necessitating a formal request.
“The M5S is working to clean up the rubble left by the Democratic party and other parties, supported by the media,” it concluded. “Day by day we strive to unmask all the lies told to citizens. Give us a hand.”
