Italian prosecutors seek political funding trial for Renzi

Prosecutors in Florence have requested trial indictment for former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi for alleged illegal political party funding

Italy Presidential Elections

Prosecutors in Florence on Wednesday requested trial indictment for former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi for alleged illegal political party funding.

Renzi denied any wrongdoing and in a tweet said he has filed a complaint with prosecutors in another region in Italy alleging that the Florence magistrates have abused their power during their years-long investigation of him.

A former Democratic Party leader who served as Italy's premier from 2014-16, Renzi is now a senator who leads a small centrist party in Parliament He alleges that the magistrates have been targeting him for years as they investigated funding of a foundation backing Renzi.

An initial hearing on the indictment request has been set for April.

Also being investigated by Florence prosecutors are two former government ministers close to Renzi.

Renzi quit as premier in 2016 after he staked his continuing in the office on winning a referendum on proposed constitutional reforms that he had championed. Voters resoundingly rejected the reforms. He later broke with the Democrat Party and founded Italia Viva, which is one of the smaller parties in Premier Mario Draghi s pandemic unity coalition that includes political parties across the spectrum.

In a separate case, Italy's central bank recently signaled possibly suspicious financial transactions that were paid to an account held by Renzi, Corriere della Sera reported last week. Some 1.1 million euros ($1.25 million) had been paid for what Renzi has described as legitimate consultancy services provided to Saudi Arabia, the newspaper said.