Italy Still Seeking Cure For Cancer Of Corruption

ROME, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Feb, 2017 ) - "I personally marked every note, one by one." Twenty five years have elapsed since Antonio Di Pietro's sting arrest of Socialist Party official Marco Chiesa lit the fuse on the biggest corruption scandal in Italy's history.

And memories of February 17, 1992 still burn bright in the mind of the now-retired judge who became an emblematic figure in the country's enduring battle against endemic graft. "It was the only way we could be absolutely certain of proving that a bribe had been paid," Di Pietro told AFP.

"When he turned round to me and said, 'But it is my own money,' I was able to reply, 'well, explain how they came to have my mark on every single bill.

'" Chiesa's arrest for taking a seven-million lire (3,500-euro, $3,700) backhander over a services contract for the Milan hospice he ran marked the start of "Mani Pulite," or "Clean Hands" -- a far-reaching probe into the murky side of Italian business and politics.

By the time it had run its course, 3,000 people had been arrested and half of the country's lawmakers had been indicted. Some 1,200 people were convicted in the following years and several prominent business and political figures committed suicide before their day in court.