The majority reached agreement on the text containing the anti-corruption rules, under consideration by the Senate, further eroding the already shaky pact of the Nazarene. Justice Minister Andrea Orlando (Pd) and Deputy Minister Enrico Costa (Ncd), in fact, announced the agreement reached at the end of a summit held between representatives of Pd, Ncd and Civic Choice in order to make "a precise definition of all the controversial issues” relating to the bill, and to unblock the impasse of the last few days.
Among the points at the center of the discussion, that of false accounting clearly stands out, on which Minister Orlando was peremptory: "In addition to extending the punishment for false accounting, we have considered eliminating the possibility of prosecuting a lawsuit: the crime will always be prosecutable ex officio". Furthermore, the principle that takes into account the size of the company and the relevance of the fact remains unchanged.
It was also agreed to extend the regime of penal sanctions envisaged for public officials to public service officers. There will also be a harmonization of sanctions for cases of self-corruption, induction and payroll.
As regards another of the more intricate knots to be resolved, that of the prescription of the crime, it was decided that the reform "will be prepared in its entirety by the Justice Commission of the Chamber together with the measures on the trial", as announced by the Minister of Justice, who concluded by speaking of the approval times of the text, which should be rapid: “There is a fast track and definitive approval will soon be reached. The path to reach the goal is clear”.
This agreement therefore seems to put an end to an almost two-year stalemate on the bill, as also announced by Deputy Minister Costa: “With the system discussed today, the Ncd will vote on the measures. It doesn't seem to me that there are ideological barriers that divide us, but technical aspects with multiple solutions: the majority must converge on the most useful ones, and in this historical moment we need to give a signal of unity on the fight against corruption".
