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Italian leader quits in scandal

April 5, 2012

The head of Italy's Northern League, Umberto Bossi, has stepped down over allegations he misappropriated party funds, leaving the future of the party hanging in the balance.

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Northern League party leader Umberto Bossi leaves the party's headquarters in Milan, Italy, Thursday, April 5, 2012. The firebrand founder of a populist, Italian anti-immigrant party, whose crucial support kept Silvio Berlusconi in power in three governments, resigned Thursday amid a widening corruption scandal over party funds. Umberto Bossi tendered his resignation as Northern League secretary, the top post, at a summit of party officials in Milan and repeatedly rebuffed pleas by his colleagues to change his mind, said a League statement. (Foto:Luca Bruno/AP/dapd).
Image: AP

Umberto Bossi, the leader of Italy's Northern League party and a long-term ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, resigned Thursday over allegations he had misused party funds, raising questions over his party's future.

"The Northern League is going to melt down," political analyst Renato Mannheimer said. "The League is based on Bossi and he won't easily be replaced."

The allegations

Bossi, 70, resigned hastily on Thursday over judicial allegations he had used party funds to pay for extravagant family expenses, such as villa renovations, travel and cars for his children.

Bossi made the choice to resign to "be able to better protect and defend the image of the movement and his family at this delicate juncture," a party statement said.

The high-profile fraud inquiry leading to Bossi's resignation has centered on the party's treasurer, Francesco Belsito, who resigned from his post on Tuesday. Prosecutors are also looking into possible links with organized crime and money laundering. Bossi has denied any knowledge of fraud.

Party future in doubt

The Northern League, which receives most of its support in Lombardy and other region's of Italy's industrialized north, campaigns on a federalist and anti-immigration ticket.

The resignation ends Bossi's 30-year career, which started with him attacking Italy's corrupt political system back in the 1980s.

He rode to power on the support of angry taxpayers in northern Italy by attacking misgovernment and offering them dreams of seceding from Rome and building a northern republic, which he called "Padania."

Tax federalism, the number one topic on the party agenda, has never become a reality in Italy, despite Bossi being in government for nearly 20 years.

And with the latest corruption allegations, it seems the League had been fully entrenched in the old party system that Bossi had claimed he wanted to destroy.

His resignation seriously undermines the populist, anti-immigration political movement, the main party opposing Prime Minister Mario Monti in government.

Without Bossi at its helm, there will be doubts about the League's ability to survive.

tm/mz (AFP, dpa, Reuters)