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October 9, 2015

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Embattled Rome mayor on the brink

Source: AP | October 9, 2015, Friday | Print Edition

Rome’s embattled mayor, Ignazio Marino, was under mounting pressure yesterday to resign following a scandal over his expense accounts that threatened to be the final straw in a months-long campaign by his opponents to oust him.

Rome prosecutors this week opened an investigation into Marino’s use of his city hall credit card after questions arose about whether he expensed family dinners, claiming they were official business.

Newspapers have documented a half-dozen dinners where either the alleged guests or the restaurant itself disputed Marino’s version of events.

Marino, a liver transplant surgeon who became a politician a decade ago, has denied wrongdoing. But as pressure mounted on Wednesday, he promised to pay the entire 20,000-euro (US$22,600) credit card bill, including uncontested legitimate expenses, back to the city.

There were indications that the gesture wouldn’t be enough given his Democratic Party has essentially yanked its support. Marino was huddled in an hours-long cabinet meeting yesterday, with supporters and opponents gathered outside city hall.

Marino has been increasingly isolated by his own party, and seen his popularity plunge, following a series of scandals and corruption probes involving Rome’s public administration, most of them concerning alleged wrongdoing under his predecessor’s administration.

But Marino has been responsible for some of his own undoing. Last year, he faced pressure to resign after he let parking fines pile up for his red Fiat Panda, which was repeatedly ticketed for being parked in the city center without a permit. Marino, who mostly uses his bike, blamed careless aides for letting the permit expire.

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