Politicians searched for a quick way to ease Italy's embattled central bank chief out of office as news reports on Sunday said criminal probes of his dealings were widening.
Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio has been resisting calls for his resignation since summer, when news broke of an initial criminal probe into takeover bids by Italian bankers.
Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday that Rome prosecutors are investigating Fazio's dealings in connection with insurance company Uni-pol Assicurazioni SpA's bid for Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA, a major Italian bank. The newspaper did not cite its sources.
Months earlier, Fazio was put under investigation for alleged abuse of power for his role in Banca Popolare Italiana's failed takeover war with Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV for Banca Antonveneta SpA, another Italian bank.
On Saturday, state radio reported that Fazio was being investigated by Milan prosecutors for suspected insider trading in connection with the Popolare bid.
Fazio has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has resisted calls for his resignation.
Meanwhile, political support for Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti's efforts to end Fazio's life term as governor has been building.
A special Cabinet meeting has been set for today to deal with the mounting banking scandal and is expected to pave the way for legislation to reform Italy's clubby banking industry, including rules for the governor's appointment and term.
Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Sunday that Tremonti has so far won preliminary support from the European central bank for a transition term for Fazio after planned passage of legislation that would limit an Italian bank governor's tenure to five years.
News reports said Tremonti will ask the government to link the legislation to confidence votes in both chambers of parliament in the next few days to improve passage of the banking reform before the holiday break.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government holds a comfortable majority in parliament, and opposition lawmakers from the center-left have indicated that they would consider joining the ruling coalition for wide consensus on the reforms.
The Bank of Italy's Superior Council, which has the power to revoke Fazio's mandate, also was expected to meet today. A majority of council members must agree it is time to send the governor packing.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS