Office of the Public Prosecutor of Naples
Anthony M. Quattrone
Roberto Saviano, author of the best seller Gomorrah, rejects the offer to become the next president of the Campania Region. Saviano, in an interview on 11 November 2009 with Linea Notte, an Italian nightly new program on state television, RAI 3, stated that “it is not the first time that I receive such an offer, but to be an author, I need to be impartial. I really cannot tie myself to any grouping”. He made the statement in the context of a television program dealing with the request put forward to Parliament, by a prosecutor in Naples, to arrest Nicola Cosentino, the regional coordinator for the center-right Popolo della Libertà (PdL) party. In Italy, Members of Parliament have limited immunity, and they can be arrested only with the consent of chamber to which they belong
Coming out a meeting with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on 12 November 2009, Cosentino confirmed his intention to become a candidate for the office of president of the Campania Region, for the elections that will take place next March, in spite of allegations of collusion with organized crime and the request for his arrest. Cosentino is a member of parliament and an undersecretary for the economy in the Italian government.
At the end of the meeting with the Prime Minister, Cosentino informed the press that he had obtained Berlusconi’s solidarity, and that he had duly informed the Prime Minister that he had no intention of withdrawing from the race for the regional presidency because “it should not be the prosecutors who decide how democratic processes should take place.” According to Cosentino, “there is a wide consensus regarding my candidacy, and I have no intention of giving up, and the Prime Minister has not asked me to bow out”. Thirty senators who belong to the PdL have asked the Minister of Justice to audit the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Naples, to investigate the “climate of conflict” reigning in the office. According to members of the center left parties, Berlusconi’s party is trying to intimidate the magistrates and prosecutors.
Cosentino’s decision to not withdraw his candidacy is causing ferment inside the PdL party. The Member of Parliament, Fabio Granata, vice president of the Antimafia Commission and member of the PdL, is of the opinion that Cosentino should withdraw his candidacy. Granata believes that in accordance with the current turn of events, Cosentino’s candidature is completely inopportune
Granata’s view is supported by the President of the Italian Parliament, Gianfranco Fini, who is a cofounder of the PdL party. Fini stated, during an evening news program on 11 November 2009, that he could “guarantee that Berlusconi is convinced that it is not opportune to put forward the candidacy of the honorable Cosentino. I can reconfirm that Cosentino will not be a candidate.”
It is not clear which of Berlusconi’s alleged statements is the correct one: is it Cosentino’s understanding that Berlusconi is behind him, or is it Fini’s understanding that Berlusconi is against Cosentino’s candidacy?
