ROME – Former Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who was head of state during the “Bribesville corruption affair that overturned Italy’s old political order in the 1990s, has died, officials have said. He was 93.
Scalfaro, a former interior minister and speaker of the lower house of parliament, was appointed president in 1992 as the bribery and political funding scandal swept aside a party system which had run in Italy since the second World War. Politicians from the main parties paid tribute to Scalfaro’s integrity and sense of responsibility in protecting the constitution which he had helped shape as a young lawyer after the war.
Mario Monti said he spoke to Scalfaro after becoming prime minister last year. “I expressed to him personally my feelings of gratitude to him for the example he gave of public service,” he said. – (Reuters)
