logo
Mayor denies wrongdoing in a corruption probe into Milan's building boom

Mayor denies wrongdoing in a corruption probe into Milan's building boom

Yahoo6 days ago
Italy Milan Corruption Probe
MILAN (AP) — Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala on Monday said he would not step down in the face of a sweeping probe into the city's massive urban development over the last two decades, saying, 'My hands are clean.' The city's top urban development official, however, resigned while denying wrongdoing.
Milan prosecutors last week announced a widespread investigation into the real estate boom that has seen skyscrapers transform the city's skyline and entire neighborhoods rebuilt, including the construction of an Olympic village for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
The investigation targets more than 70 people, including Sala, as prosecutors allege corruption that made Italy's financial and fashion capital 'a commodity to be plundered.'' The probe alleges that developers bribed officials to speed building permits and win approval for projects.
Prosecutors are seeking the arrest of six people, including Giancarlo Tancredi, an architect who has been the city's top urban development official since 2021. Tancredi announced his resignation to focus on his defense but denied any wrongdoing. 'My conscience is clear,'' he said.
Sala, a member of the center-left Democratic Party who is serving his second term as mayor, denied any wrongdoing during an address to the city council, saying, 'All I have done is in the interest of the city.''
Sala pledged to continue in his mandate, which expires at the end of 2026, and underlined the necessity of continuing projects that are in the works, including determining the future of Milan's San Siro stadium, home to soccer clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan. The teams want the city to jointly buy the stadium so they can tear it down and build a new one.
The investigation has led to calls by the center-right majority that governs from Rome for Sala to step down. But he has received the support of Lombardy's regional governor, Attilio Fontana, a prominent center-right politician, while Premier Giorgia Meloni urged caution, saying an investigation should not automatically lead to resignation.
Milan's extraordinary development around the 2015 Expo and now the Olympics has sent real estate prices skyrocketing. Many say ordinary workers have been priced out in gentrification.
'Do we need to do more to make Milan more fair, healthy and balanced? By definition, we must always do more,'' Sala said.
Solve the daily Crossword
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Voices: This weekend, 100,000 people stood up to fight against the demonisation of trans people
Voices: This weekend, 100,000 people stood up to fight against the demonisation of trans people

Yahoo

time20 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Voices: This weekend, 100,000 people stood up to fight against the demonisation of trans people

One hundred thousand people, let me repeat, 100,000 people joined Saturday's march for London Trans+ Pride. It broke 2024's record of 60,000 and extended the capital's reign as the largest trans rights protest in the world. But pride doesn't even begin to encompass the full breadth of emotion I feel: not only in making it happen, but in the tenacity of our community. This was my second year helping to organise the march – and I do apologise to any of those still hearing the echoes of my voice ringing out 'Claim your space, we have the whole of Whitehall!' through a megaphone. As a proud trans woman, working alongside the collective of 30 or so volunteers who put on this event every year is a privilege. I am by no means its voice, and there are many others more qualified to be the community's voice, such as artist Lewis G Burton, BBC presenter Dr Ronx and Heartstopper actor Yasmin Finney, who all made speeches in Parliament Square. But I am writing this as someone who found comfort and community here and wanted to give back. For me and for so many other people, Saturday's march represents the ultimate safe space. It is a day of protest and of joy, liberation and celebration. There wasn't anything like it when I started my transition some 15 years ago. I was lucky enough to know exactly who I was from a young age – just as my mother had known who she was, and my father had known who he was. My parents have been my most supportive allies, and I was so moved to see signs from other families along the march. I spent several years working as an organiser of large-scale events before joining London Trans+ Pride. And while my career may have been my foundation for this move into advocacy, nothing can prepare you for the energy of those marching. I'm not surprised that so many more people joined compared to 2024. It has come at a time when we need proactive activism and allyship more than ever. Following the explosion against trans+ rights in the last five years, from puberty blocker bans to the Supreme Court's contested ruling in April – that the legal definition of a woman is someone born biologically female – friends, family and total strangers have stepped up and demonstrated their support – and highlighted that most Britons have never, and will never, view trans people as a threat. Our team was supported by almost 600 volunteer stewards. These people come from all over the UK and give up their time to guide the march. We could not safely deliver an event of such magnitude every year without them, and we owe them so much. They, and the additional 35,000 marchers we saw yesterday, have stepped up at a time when visible support is so needed. We tend to see significant mainstream coverage about small protests against immigration, but little about the thousands of people supporting trans rights. We heard the author Caroline Litman speaking about her late daughter, Alice, and initiatives highlighted from ally support groups such as the Trans Solidarity Alliance and Not in Our Name, and the enviable strength and determination of Trans Kids Deserve Better. When I had time to look up from my work as a pink blur of headsets and event management forms, I could soak in the phenomenon engulfing me. I spent all day being moved by the placards, banners, flags, and by the humour. The progressive spins on viral trends were a favourite: 'Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday; except top surgery.' British irony combined with the joy of medical autonomy: something I see regularly in my new career in gender-affirming healthcare – an area persistently targeted in the tirade against our community. In my role, I get to float between marchers, volunteers and community workers throughout the march and see all the variety of support there. And while my bones may be a little worse for wear after what can only be described as the job of a lifetime – and thank goodness for comfy shoes – I couldn't imagine anything better. But this lovely day is counterbalanced by the continued demonisation of women like me, people like this and communities like ours. Our rights appear to be being used as pawns on the world's political stage to distract from larger issues. London Trans+ Pride was, is and will always remain a testament to joy. It confirms us as human by showing up for each other and everyone else through the intersectionality of systemic oppression. 2025 continues to be a horrific year for human rights. But, thanks to everyone who marched and made history, today, the future for trans people feels a little brighter. Stephanie Lynnette is a healthcare worker, content creator and the current Events and Projects Manager for London Trans+ Pride

5 Podcasts That Illustrate the Ungraspable Nature of Justice
5 Podcasts That Illustrate the Ungraspable Nature of Justice

New York Times

timean hour ago

  • New York Times

5 Podcasts That Illustrate the Ungraspable Nature of Justice

True crime has remained a cornerstone of the industry ever since the first season of 'Serial' in 2014 ushered podcasts into the media mainstream, and the expansion of audio reporting has allowed for numerous cold cases and wrongful convictions to be re-examined. These five investigative podcasts all document failures within justice systems on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, caused by a combination of factors including racism, classism, law enforcement misconduct and bureaucratic incompetence. 'The Great Post Office Trial' The British postal service may not sound like an obvious setting for a real-life horror story, but that's exactly what unfolds in this gripping BBC investigative series. Beginning in the early 2000s, a number of post offices across Britain began recording major, unexplained shortfalls in cash that often snowballed into thousands of pounds. Sub-postmasters in charge of the affected offices, most of them relatively small, were held personally responsible for the losses, forced to take on devastating personal debts to pay them back, and were prosecuted for financial fraud. It took a long time for the truth to emerge — the shortfalls were nonexistent, invented by a faulty new I.T. system — and by then, hundreds of lives had been destroyed. Over the course of 21 episodes, Nick Wallis chronicles what the country's Criminal Case Review Commission called the 'biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history.' The Kafkaesque stories, told largely by the victims who lived through the ordeal, describe being swept up in an inexplicable, seemingly bottomless, spiral of debt toward false accusations on the part of a system too clunky to recognize its own flaws. On the way, each time they sought help or explanations, they were met with gaslighting. Although a public inquiry has now led to overturned convictions and millions of pounds in compensation, the nightmarish toll of this 20-year scandal (13 lives were lost to suicide) feels too vast to fully repair. Starter episode: 'The Imaginary Heist' '13 Alibis' This absorbing series, which debuted in 2019, was the first podcast launched by 'Dateline,' the long-running television newsmagazine on NBC. Hosted and produced by Dan Slepian, an NBC News journalist, '13 Alibis' explores the 1996 killing of a teenager in the Bronx, and the conviction of a local man, Richard Rosario, despite Rosario's having 13 witnesses placing him in another state at the time of the murder. The series is an ideal binge listen — episodes are typically just 15 to 20 minutes long. But it doesn't feel lightweight, packed as it is with interviews of Rosario, legal experts and detectives that help explain how so much exculpatory evidence was dismissed. There are also insights into systemic failures — the prosecution case leaned heavily on a witness who identified Rosario in a police lineup, a method which has come under intense scrutiny in recent years thanks to the potential for false positives. Starter episode: 'Behind Bars' 'Bone Valley' The phrase 'it's always the husband' has become a mantra among true crime fans (to the point where it's the title of both a book and a podcast), referring to the fact that women are statistically most likely to be killed by a current or former partner. But this kind of confirmation bias can have devastating consequences if it's given too much sway in an actual criminal investigation, as this immersive and moving podcast demonstrates. In 1987, Leo Schofield was charged with murder in the stabbing death of his wife, Michelle, 18, whose body was found in a drainage canal in Central Florida. Despite a lack of physical evidence, he was convicted and spent 36 years in prison. Even after Jeremy Scott repeatedly confessed to the crime, and his fingerprints were matched to a set found in Michelle's abandoned car, Schofield remained behind bars and now, although he's out on parole, his conviction remains intact. The two seasons of 'Bone Valley,' however, are more about forgiveness and redemption than anger, exploring not just Schofield's tireless fight to prove his innocence, but his startlingly nuanced relationship with Scott. Starter episode: 'God Help Us' 'Wrongly Accused: The Annette Hewins Story' Many podcasts about wrongful convictions offer some comfort: The wrongly accused person actually gets a voice in the narrative (literally) and in the best-case scenario receives justice (if belatedly). That's not the case in this emotionally charged series from BBC Sounds, in which the accused in the title lost her life to a wrongful conviction. In 1995, Annette Hewins, then 31, was convicted of setting a fire that killed a mother and her two daughters in Wales. By the time her conviction was thrown out four years later, the damage had been done. 'Wrongly Accused' is movingly narrated by Hewins's now adult daughter Nicole, who recounts the extensive trauma inflicted on their family, Annette's descent into substance use and mental illness after her trial, and the ways in which class dynamics and systemic failures contributed to a tragically mishandled investigation. Starter episode: 'Her Story Must Be Heard' 'In The Dark: Season 2' The first season of this American Public Media podcast, which delved into the haunting story of the 1989 disappearance of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling, was a tough act to follow — not least because its release coincided with the case finally being solved. Madeleine Baran, an investigative journalist, and her team, wisely veered away from another cold case in the second season, instead delving into the equally disturbing story of Curtis Flowers, a Black man who was put on trial six times by a Mississippi prosecutor for the same quadruple homicide. Throughout 14 meticulously reported episodes, Baran unpacks how such a wildly flawed case was repeatedly retried, even after multiple mistrials and overturned convictions. Starter episode: 'July 16, 1996'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store