Renato Schifani
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| Senatore Renato Schifani |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 29 April 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Franco Marini |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 21 April 1996 |
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| Constituency | Sicily |
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| Born | May 11, 1950 Palermo, Italy |
| Political party | Forza Italia |
| Profession | Attorney Politician |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Renato Schifani (born 11 May 1950) is an Italian politician and a prominent member of the centre-right People of Freedom. Since 29 April 2008 he is President of the Italian Senate.[1][2]. Schifani was born in Palermo
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Berlusconi's chief whip
Schifani used to be a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Cassation (Italian: Corte Suprema di Cassazione), the major court of last resort. He specialized in real estate regulations and became active in the credit recovery business. Filippo Mancuso, the former minister of Justice born in Palermo, termed Schifani “the prince of credit recovery” (“il principe del recupero crediti”).[3] Prior to joining Forza Italia in 1995, he has been an active member of Christian Democracy. Elected in 1996 in the Altofonte-Corleone district in Sicily, Schifani served as Silvio Berlusconi's chief whip in the Italian Senate.
In 2002, Schifani was a protagonist in the attempt to secure the embedding of the provisional Article 41-bis prison regime – used against people imprisoned for particular crimes such as Mafia involvement – as a definitive measure in Italian law.[2]
Schifani and Antonio Maccanico, senator of the centre left L’Ulivo (Olive Tree) political coalition, gave their name to the law approved in June 2003 to grant immunity to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The Maccanico-Schifani decree was approved by the Italian parliament with the excuse of general immunity for the top five representatives of the State (although the other four were not facing trial). This law was declared against the Constitution on January 13, 2004.[2][4]
[edit] Alleged Mafia connections
In 1979, Renato Schifani founded and became managing director of the firm Siculabrokers.[5] The former minister of Regional Affairs Enrico La Loggia, Benny D'Agostino, Giuseppe Lombardo and Nino Mandalà were amongst its shareholders.[6][7][8][9]
Benny D’Agostino is an entrepreneur convicted for Mafia association, Mandalà was convicted for Mafia association and was indicated by the Court as the Mafia boss of Villabate,[10][11] Lombardo was chairman and member of the board of Satris, a credit recovery agency whose shareholders were Nino and Ignazio Salvo, well known businessmen and Mafiosi of the Salemi “family”, arrested by prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1984.[11][12]
According to the pentito (Mafia turncoat) Francesco Campanella, Antonio Mandalà and La Loggia in the 1990s agreed the master plan for the shopping centre they wanted to develop in the town of Villabate, which aroused the interests of politicians and the Mafia.[13] Schifani, La Loggia and the civil engineer Guzzaro – the consultant who advised the town – would share the consulting fees for drawing the master plan. The master plan of the town of Villabate was designed under specific instruction of Antonino and Nicola Mandalà (Antonino’s son who was responsible for the logistics to keep the fugitive Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano at large [14]). They intermediated with the local Mafia families and politician to skim of the public contracts.[13]
In 1992, Schifani along with Antonio Mangano and Antonino Garofalo founded GMS, another credit recovery agency. Schifani's partner Garofalo was charged with usury and extortion in 1997. However, Schifani was not mentioned in the police investigation.[5] In both cases Schifani has never been investigated for any Mafia-related offence, much less tried.
[edit] Media row with Travaglio
On May 10, 2008, the journalist Marco Travaglio interviewed on the RAI current affairs talk show television programme Che tempo che fa, talked about the Italian media. He mentioned past relationships between Schifani and men who have subsequently been condemned for Mafia association as an example of a relevant fact ignored by almost all Italian newspapers which published a biography of Schifani as the new president of Senate.[15][16][17]
The statement of Travaglio resulted in fierce and almost universally negative reactions including from the centre left, except for Antonio Di Pietro who said that Travaglio was ‘merely doing his job’. Some called for chief executives at RAI to be dismissed. The popular political commentator Beppe Grillo supported Travaglio, while Schifani announced he would go to Court and blame Travaglio for slander.[18] Schifani said Travaglio's accusation was based on "inconsistent or manipulated facts, not even worthy of generating suspicions", adding that "someone wants to undermine the dialogue between the government and the opposition."[17]
[edit] References
- ^ Italian Senate Elects Renato Schifani as its New President, Bloomberg, April 29, 2008
- ^ a b c (Italian) Il Palermo e Silvio, le passioni di Schifani, Corriere della Sera, April 29, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Schifani al Senato, la sfida di essere presidente di tutti, ANSA, May 4, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Gomez & Travaglio, Se li conosci li eviti, p. ?
- ^ a b (Italian) Una vita da Schifani, L'Espresso, August 13, 2002
- ^ (Italian) Berlusconi, Schifani ed il cattivo esempio, by Francesco Rigatelli, blog at Il Sole 24 Ore, April 30, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Gomez & Abbate, I Complici. See an abstract in Ecco uno stralcio da «I complici», Corriere della Sera, May 14, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Uliwood Party, by Marco Travaglio, L'Unità, April 23, 2008
- ^ (Spanish) Schifani, colaborador de Berlusconi, nuevo presidente del Senado italiano, El País, April 29, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Patto mafia-politica per il megastore, La Repubblica (Palermo edition), September 28, 2007
- ^ a b (Italian) La sentenza, La Repubblica (Palermo edition), April 28, 2007
- ^ L'impero dei Salvo
- ^ a b (Italian) 'Villabate: Schifani e La Loggia concordarono il Prg con il boss', La Repubblica (Palermo edition}, May 11, 2006
- ^ Mafia men get 300 years in jail, BBC News, November 16, 2006
- ^ (Italian) «Schifani diffamato da Travaglio», Corriere della Sera, May 11, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Fazio chiede scusa in Tv a Schifani, La Repubblica, May 11, 2008
- ^ a b Compromised by compromise, blog by John Hooper (The Guardian), May 13, 2008
- ^ (Italian) Caso Travaglio, Schifani querela, Corriere della Sera, May 12, 2008
- (Italian) Gomez, Peter & Lirio Abbate (2007). I complici. Tutti gli uomini di Bernardo Provenzano da Corleone al Parlamento, Fazi Editore, ISBN 9788881127863
- (Italian) Gomez, Peter & Marco Travaglio (2008). Se li conosci li eviti. Raccomandati, riciclati, condannati, imputati, ignoranti, voltagabbana, fannulloni del nuovo Parlamento, Milan: Chiarelettere
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Franco Marini |
President of the Italian Senate 2008-present |
Incumbent |
| Assembly seats | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held |
Member of the Italian Senate Legislatures XIV,XV,XVI 1996-present |
Incumbent |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Giorgio Napolitano President of the Italian Republic |
Italian order of precedence President of the Italian Senate |
Succeeded by Gianfranco Fini President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies |
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