Italian Prime Minister To Address Russian Funding Claims In Parliament On Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2019) Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will appear in parliament on Wednesday to address claims of illicit Russian funding for the ruling Lega party.

He is due to brief the Senate at 4:30 p.m. (14:30 GMT). Matteo Salvini, a deputy prime minister and the leader of the right-wing Lega, has refused to report on what he believes is a trumped-up case.

The allegation was first reported two weeks ago by a US website, Buzzfeed. It claimed to have an incriminating audio tape of a secret meeting in Moscow between Salvini's aide and unnamed Russians.

In the recording, the men were allegedly heard discussing a scheme that would allow Russians to covertly funnel tens of millions of Dollars of oil money to Lega. There was no evidence that the transaction had happened.

Salvini has rejected the claim as "ridiculous," saying his party has never taken a single ruble or Dollar from Russia. A day after the Buzzfeed report, Italian prosecutors opened a probe into a similar allegation dating to February.