In an article in La Verità “it is stated that the Caltanissetta Prosecutor’s Office, on the occasion of my hearing as a witness in a criminal proceeding against Gioacchino Natoliwould have contested the content of my conversations with him, which were casually intercepted, during which we would have “adjusted” the statements he was preparing to make to the Anti-Mafia. It is radically false” also because “there would have been nothing to contest.
With Natoli I shared a very long work path” “which made a constant and in-depth exchange of ideas between us normal”.
He writes it in a note Roberto Scarpinato, responding to the controversies raised by the publication of the article.
“In this context – continues the senator of the 5 stars -, after suspicions of illegal conduct had been raised against him before the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, he expressed his regret for the unfoundedness of the accusations and anticipated his firm desire to be heard by the Commission to analytically explain his reasons and illustrate the documents he progressively found, which would have demonstrated the regularity of his conduct. Reasons which – he underlined – he explained to me and which, while waiting to be summoned by the Commission,. had also decided to anticipate and make it public with multiple interviews with the press, finally detailing them in his hearing in the Commission”.
“Listening to elements which in my opinion are relevant for the complete reconstruction of the facts – he explained – I urged Dr. Natoli to rigorously report them to the Commission. The misleading and falsifying content of the article is evident, for which I will evaluate with my lawyers how to proceed, clearly aimed at supporting the action of those political parties who, since the beginning of the work of the Anti-Mafia Commission, have repeatedly anticipated their desire to exclude me from the fact-finding investigations into the massacres, so as to prevent me from making my contribution to shed light on all the black holes, on the red herrings, on the burning political backgrounds that can involve ‘untouchable’ characters. It doesn’t bother me in any way – concluded Scarpinato – to have been intercepted, having nothing to hide”.
Several members of the centre-right majority intervened on the matter, inviting Scarpinato to resign from the Anti-Mafia commission.