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Chamber of commerce head arrested for bribery in S Italy

Xinhua, March 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The president of Palermo's Chamber of Commerce, in southern Italy, who in the past had spoken out against corruption, has been arrested for alleged bribery, local press reported Tuesday.

Roberto Helg, also the vice head of the airport management authority in the capital city of Sicily island, was reportedly caught in the act while pocketing a considerable bribe from a restaurateur.

The restaurateur wanted an extension of his contract for retail space at the Palermo airport. According to local investigators, Helg told the restaurateur that an extension was difficult and required his support for the price of 100,000 euros (about 112,000 U.S. dollars).

Helg reportedly asked the sum be divided into 50,000 euros to be paid immediately and another 10,000 euros to be paid every month for five months.

"Evidently, he took advantage of his role in order to extort money," Palermo chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi told Xinhua in a phone interview, commenting on the arrest.

The investigation was made possible thanks to the collaboration of an entrepreneur who denounced the malpractice to local authorities, he underlined.

Sicily is the home of so-called Cosa Nostra mafia, one of Italy's big crime syndicates apart from Ndrangheta and Camorra. All are based in the country's less developed south and are traditionally engaged in a variety of criminal activities.

"Given the history of our territory, compared to the past I can say without a doubt that there has been a reaction of the business community in Palermo against various forms of extortion," Lo Voi told Xinhua.

Improved legislation at the national level envisaging rewards for those denouncing criminal behavior as well as enhanced police supported by new technology have produced significant results, he noted.

"In fact, a series of investigations and arrests have been carried out in recent times thanks to the collaboration of local entrepreneurs," he said.

However, Lo Voi added much still needed to be done to encourage citizens to denounce illegal behavior.

ANSA news agency wrote that Helg participated in anti-corruption initiatives in the past, including in connection with the Chamber of Commerce's commitment to fight illegality. Endit