Roundup: Italy's M5S under fire in electoral fraud scandal

Italy's second largest party has come under fire over an electoral fraud case even as the national debate takes on more heated tones in the run-up to a Dec. 4 referendum on center-left Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's constitutional reform law, local media reported Tuesday.

Italian media are rife with reports that city prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Palermo are probing as many as eight members of the so-called "populist, euro-skeptic" 5-Star Movement (M5S) for faking 2,000 signatures ahead of 2012 local elections, which the M5S ultimately lost.

Allegations also include that a number of those signatures was cloned from petitions gathered for a 2011 national referendum on the privatization of water utilities.

Prosecutors are trying to figure out how many people were involved in the incident, because the law punishes not only those who physically tampered with electoral lists by faking or cloning signatures, but also those who used them while knowing they were fake.

The probe was launched after an Oct. 9 investigative report by satirical TV show Le Iene (Reservoir Dogs), in which reporters interviewed M5S activist Vincenzo Pintagro and ex-activist Francesco Vicari.

The two had reported what they called "serious irregularities" to Palermo prosecutors, to Deputy Lower House Speaker Luigi Di Maio (M5S) and to Le Iene.

Le Iene submitted the signatures in question to two court handwriting experts in Milan, both of whom confirmed they were fake and that many had been copied over "by the same hand."

Le Iene confronted citizens who had initially signed on to M5S petitions, asking if they recognized their signatures on the lists submitted by the M5S to electoral authorities. Those interviewed said the signatures were not their own.

On Oct. 11, M5S leader Beppe Grillo claimed on his blog that the Movement was the injured party because "someone probably used our symbol to commit a crime" and that "we trust in the judiciary."

"We thank Le Iene and all those who reported the incident," Grillo wrote, "If we find out those responsible are M5S members, we will take appropriate disciplinary action."

Renzi's PD -- currently Italy's leading party -- has called for the M5S leadership to resign. "Eight people being investigated, some 30 are people involved and the leadership, beginning with Grillo, knew and lied about it," said Lower House member of parliament Ernesto Carbone, a member of the PD secretariat. Endit