Italy's L'Aquila mayor resigns amid bribery scandals in post-quake reconstruction

Massimo Cialente, the mayor of L'Aquila, the city in central Italy that was hit by a deadly earthquake in 2009, resigned on Saturday amid mounting scandals over bribery in the post-quake reconstruction. "I reflected and decided so in the interest of the city," Cialente told a press conference called to announce his decision. Elected in 2007, the center-left mayor had been confirmed for a second term in 2012. Last week, eight people including high-profiled public officers at the time of the alleged crimes were put under investigation and four of them under house arrest over bribery allegations related to reconstruction works after the earthquake. Though Cialente was not involved in the investigation, Deputy Mayor Roberto Riga and the delegate for the rebuilding projects Vladimiro Placidi as well as the current director of the local health district Pierluigi Tancredi were among the people being investigated. Riga, who also was town planning councilor at the time of the alleged crimes, denied all charges, but resigned over the allegations. All people under investigation were charged with corruption, fraudulent claims and pillaging. According to prosecutors, they took part in falsifying documents and contracts worth more than 1.2 million euros (1.6 million U.S. dollars), while bribes for 500,000 euros (683,419 U.S. dollars) were allegedly paid in the first phase of reconstruction, between September 2009 and July 2011. On Saturday, Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper unveiled a series of transcripts from a wiretapped phone conversation between L'Aquila's former councilor for public works Ermanno Lisi and an architect, Pio Ciccone. "The earthquake was a stroke of luck," Lisi told Ciccone. "The possibilities are billionaires. I am going to try to take 160 houses, if you do not use this occasion you will not have another one," he added. More than 300 people were killed and over 50,000 were left homeless in the devastating earthquake, that struck on April 6, 2009 and was felt throughout central Italy, making this the deadliest tremor to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.