Scarpinato’s populist inconsistency

“Let’s put an end to this dithering. They must make up their minds and grant authorisation to view Delmastro’s chat logs. We cannot give civil society the impression of a political class that protects itself and shuns transparency.” These were the harsh words spoken on Tuesday by Roberto Scarpinato, a former public prosecutor and now a senator for the M5S. The reference is to the case involving the former Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Delmastro, who is not under investigation but is implicated in the inquiry into the businessman Mauro Caroccia, accused by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office of using a front man and money laundering with the aggravating circumstance of mafia involvement.

Although Delmastro is not under investigation, the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested authorisation from the Chamber of Deputies to access the chat messages exchanged between him and Caroccia. The Chamber has stalled and asked the prosecutors for further clarification on the aims of the investigation, but it is rather ironic that the person expressing outrage at this decision is Scarpinato, who has been at loggerheads with the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission for months, accused of having obtained several wiretaps involving Scarpinato himself and Gioacchino Natoli, former president of the Palermo Court of Appeal, who is under investigation for the alleged cover-up of the Mafia-procurement inquiry. In a surreal about-turn, Scarpinato and the M5S denounced a “serious violation of Article 68 of the Constitution”, which requires parliamentary authorisation for the use of wiretaps. Scarpinato therefore asked the Senate’s Immunities Committee to raise a conflict of jurisdiction before the Constitutional Court against the Caltanissetta Public Prosecutor’s Office, but the request was rejected by the centre-right. At that point, the former public prosecutor had the brilliant idea of raising a conflict of jurisdiction directly against the Anti-Mafia Commission – a request declared inadmissible by the Constitutional Court. Some might say, to use Scarpinato’s own words, that Scarpinato is a politician who is protecting himself. The truth is that, as usual, for the Five Star Movement, the Constitution only applies when it concerns them personally.