ROME (Sputnik) — Raggi, a member of the Five Star Movement (M5S) party, is currently being probed over appointing Renato Marra, the brother of a city official previously charged with fraud, as the city tourism department head. The mayor is accused of abusing her position as well as giving false evidence. On Friday, the Corriere della Sera newspaper speculated that Raggi's lawyers were in talks with prosecutors.
"The unreal talks were invented after a false reconstruction of my telephone call with [M5S leader] Beppe Grillo… When I have something to say I will say it in court, the rest is fantasy," Raggi wrote on Grillo's website.
The scandal around the new mayor, who was elected by a landslide in June, started in December after Raffaele Marra's arrest on charges of major real estate fraud in the capital. His brother's appointment as the city tourism chief was revoked in January.
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