Venice Mayor Resigns Amid Corruption Scandal

Mayor of Italian city of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni. Photo by lettera35.it.

The mayor of the Italian city of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, has resigned amid an investigation into alleged corruption over new flood barriers.

Orsoni stepped down a day after being released from house arrest under and has agreed to a four-month sentence but is unlikely to go to prison, the BBC reports.

The mayor of Venice had returned to his post on Thursday after a temporary suspension but he seems to have lost the support of his political allies from the ruling center-left Democratic Party.

Orsoni and 35 other people have been arrested last week over claims of bribery during the public tender process of the cities flood barriers, known as the Moses project.

The suspects are accused of channeling EUR 20 M away from public funds for the project, which has taken 11 years to complete due to the economic crisis, to foreign bank accounts. They are also accused of using it to fund political parties.

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