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Italy Reform Package Seeks to Tame Crisis

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Trapped in a minefield of paralysis and popular disgust, the government of Prime Minister Giuliano Amato has devised a controversial package of reforms aimed at muting the political and economic damage of Italy’s unprecedented corruption scandal.

Three marathon Cabinet meetings produced seven executive decrees and proposed laws published Saturday that are intended to be both face-saving and institution-saving ways out of a national crisis triggered by the yearlong kickback scandal.

The measures, quickly attacked by government opponents as “a whitewash,” are bound to ignite a firestorm of popular fury and ferocious protest from opposition parties when parliamentary debate begins this week. Amato’s political enemies closed ranks in complaint Saturday. The neo-fascist party attacked the package as “a substantial amnesty,” while Antonio Bassolini, a spokesman for the former Communist Party, called it “a challenge to the conscience of the nation.”

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Even within the government there was reservation. As the Cabinet finally adjourned late Friday, Environment Minister Carlo Ripa di Meana publicly disassociated himself from his colleagues’ decision to support what Amato termed a “political solution.”

Proposed by Amato and Justice Minister Giovanni Conso, the key decree reforms the law on political party financing, making violations of it an administrative rather than a penal offense. Instead of jail sentences, violators of the law would face stiff fines.

The so-called Tangentopoli (Bribegate) scandal has so far enveloped nearly 1,000 tip-of-the-iceberg businessmen and public officials accused of involvement in billions of dollars in systematic kickbacks in the award of public contracts. Most of the money went to finance Italy’s opulent political parties, but millions disappeared into private pockets along the way.

Conso told Italian reporters that the measures should speed up justice for hundreds enmeshed in a scandal that began in Milan last year and has by now unmasked decades of systematic corruption and mismanagement in virtually every major Italian city.

“What the people really want is the rapid conviction of those who have done wrong,” Conso said. “Our objective is not to block inquiries but to lighten the frightening burden of cases that magistrates have to deal with.”

The effect of the party financial reform decree, which must be ratified by Parliament within 60 days, would be to retroactively lessen charges against those already accused, critics charged.

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Di Meana warned that it would have a “paralyzing effect on investigations under way and the process of renewing the political and social fabric that these investigations are encouraging.”

Companion decrees will unblock public construction projects halted by judicial inquiries and tighten controls on public-sector contracts, allowing judges, Conso said, to carry out measured investigations without the “anguish of causing unemployment.”

The Tangentopoli scandal, which has hit construction firms hardest, has virtually brought public works construction to a halt in a country wrestling with recession, rising unemployment and widespread popular revulsion with the national political Establishment.

Reforms to be presented for parliamentary approval this week would extend the use of plea bargaining and allow suspended sentences for those involved in corruption in party financing.

Offenders who confess would be fined three times the amount accepted in bribes and would be barred from public office for up to five years. If individuals cannot pay the fines, they will be assessed against the political party on whose behalf they acted, according to the government proposals.

The proposed changes would not reduce criminal penalties for public officials or businessmen accused of extortion, corruption or receiving stolen goods, said Amato.

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