She said she was not under criminal investigation and had been the victim of “dirty, disgusting practices” by the media.
Santanchè specified that she had not received notification of a probe, adding that she had also had her lawyers check with prosecutors to make sure that she was not under investigation.
“(A campaign) of manipulation for political ends is ongoing against me,” the minister, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, said.
“I am here to defend my honour and that of my son.
“I am here out of respect for this place and the citizens that we represent.”
According to Rai investigative journalism show Report, businesses linked to Santanchè allegedly failed to pay suppliers and allegedly dismissed workers without giving them redundancy payments that were due to them.
Her businesses have also been accused of improperly receiving COVID aid.
“I have never appropriated anything that does not belong to me,” she said.
“I have never abused my senior company positions, I dare anyone to show the opposite.
“I have been in business since I was 25, I started out from Cuneo. With the strength of my work, and counting only on myself, I achieved major business successes.
“I am proud to have given lots of people jobs, I invested in advertising, in entertainment and then publishing.
“I was able to write pages of success”.
Santanchè said she had used her own person wealth to save some of the companies at the centre of the allegations, adding she would have expected praise instead of flak.
ANSA
