The former Minister of Health Francesco Storace he is under investigation for corruption by the Rome prosecutor's office as part of one of the lines of investigation by the Bari judiciary on health, transmitted to the capital for territorial jurisdiction, and concerning the disbursement of funding to research centres. Registration in the register of suspects constitutes a duty and the file was in turn sent, again for competence, by the deputy prosecutor Maria Cordova to the court of ministers. Storace, defended by the lawyer Joshua Bruno Naso, he said he was calm and certain that the matter will be resolved in a short time as soon as the appropriate board responsible for ministerial crimes has examined the file.
The investigation The file arrived in Rome constitutes one of the chapters of the broader investigation by the Bari prosecutor's office into alleged irregularities concerning the awarding of contracts in the world of health care and a round of false billing. This is the investigation in which the former governor of the Puglia region was also involved Raffaele Fitto. The story concerning Storace, the current leader of the "La Destra" movement, dates back to the beginning of 2005, a time in which he was in charge of the Ministry of Health, with particular reference to the issue of a decree, according to the hypothesis of accusation subordinated to an activity of corruption, which provided for a series of funds for research centres.
Storace's reply “It is a matter – comments the ex-minister – which concerns a loan that has never been disbursed and therefore, I believe, that the due act carried out by the Roman investigators will be closed quickly. Among other things, I signed the decree after having extracted a good 100 million euros for cancer research in the negotiations for the 2006 budget, complete with the applause of the then President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and life senator Rita Levi di Montalcini. The decree - adds Storace - was published in the Official Gazette in late March when I was no longer a minister and I remember that it also concerned the institutes of Umberto Veronesi and Don Verzè. Then the Regions appealed to the Constitutional Court for not having been involved in the affair and they were right. The decree was revoked by the minister Livia Turco. Talking about it now – concludes Storace – is actually a bit funny, but once again we will demonstrate the strength of our patience”. From Il Giornale 10-08-07
