Schifani assumes responsibility for agriculture, “Trust in the judiciary, Sammartino loyal and transparent” – BlogSicilia

Palazzo d’Orléans announces that Luca Sammartino today resigned from the positions of councilor for Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fisheries and vice president of the regional government. The interim functions of the department were assumed directly by the president of the Region Renato Schifani, who with a subsequent decree will appoint the new vice president of the council.

Schifani’s words

The President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, “in reiterating full trust in the judiciary, fully trusts in the possibility that the Honorable Sammartino can demonstrate his total non-involvement in the facts accused of him” and recalls how “he himself held his dual institutional role with decorum, loyalty and transparency”.

The warranty notice at dawn

At dawn, Luca Sammartino was served the notice of investigation for corruption as part of the investigation by the Catania Prosecutor’s Office. The carabinieri knocked on the door of his home in Catania around 6am. Sammartino had returned to Sicily yesterday after completing the mission in Verona, where he managed the Region’s participation in Vinitaly.

Who is Luca Sammartino

Luca Sammartino is the strong man, the reference politician of Salvini’s League in Sicily. For the Schifani government he held important roles. Not only Vice President and councilor for agriculture but also the delegation of relations with the Sicilian Regional Assembly. He is among the most voted politicians on the island and in the last two regional elections he was the voting champion and always among the most voted in Sicily in the latest consultations. In the internal dispute within the League a few months ago, the Sammartino faction had prevailed over the wing that referred to MEP Annalisa Tardino, outgoing and re-nominated MEP, later replaced as leader of the Northern League by Claudio Durigon. In the past he had been a member of the UDC, then moved to the Democratic Party and subsequently joined Italia Viva, before arriving at the League.