BARI, Italy, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Magistrates have opened a
corruption investigation into Italy's ILVA steel plant on
suspicion bribes may have been paid for environmental reports
playing down the scale of pollution at the site, a judicial
official said on Thursday.
Accusations of pollution there have become a problem for the
government of Prime Minister Mario Monti as ILVA is one of the
few big industrial plants in the impoverished southern region,
employing 12,000 people and supporting thousands of other jobs
indirectly.
Several executives of the family-owned Riva group, which
owns the plant, as well as a local official in the Taranto area
have been placed under investigation into possible corruption,
the judicial official said.
A spokesman for Riva declined to comment when contacted by
telephone.
Last month, magistrates ordered the plant to be partially
closed down because of fears that dioxins and other chemicals
pumped from the site may have led to hundreds of deaths in the
past 13 years around Taranto in the "heel" of Italy.
A separate investigation into the environmental damage is
already underway and eight executives have been placed under
house arrest over the case.
Industry Minister Corrado Passera and Environment Minister
Corrado Clini are due to visit the plant on Friday.
The government, facing a deepening economic recession that
has dragged Italy ever further into the euro zone financial
crisis, has criticised last month's ruling by magistrates and
said it is ready to appeal against the decision to order a
partial closure.
"The biggest job we have at the moment is making sure that
we avoid the definitive closure of ILVA in Taranto," Passera
told the weekly Oggi in an interview.
ILVA, one of Europe's biggest steel makers, is responsible
for almost a third of Italy's steel output and its closure would
be very damaging for the south, an underdeveloped region plagued
by high unemployment and organised crime.
But health ministry figures indicate that deaths from cancer
in the region are 15 percent above the national average and lung
cancer death rates 30 percent higher.
The government expects to pass a decree by Sept. 30
outlining steps the plant must take to reduce pollution.
According to prosecutors, noxious fumes from the plant have
caused around 400 deaths over the past 13 years. The company
says the situation has improved significantly recently.
(Reporting by Vincenzo Damiani and Massimiliano Di Giorgio,
Writing By James Mackenzie; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
