M5S 'no longer exists in Quarto', mayor's husband probed

Rome, January 14 - Roberto Fico, a leading member of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), said Thursday that the anti-establishment group is no longer present in Quarto, confirming that councillors backing Mayor Rosa Capuozzo were no longer considered part of it. Capuozzo, elected as an M5S candidate, was expelled after ignoring calls from the movement for her to resign as mayor of the town near Naples amid a probe into allegations the council has been hit by mafia infiltration. "The M5S is no longer in Quarto to all extends and purposes," Fico said when asked if the councillors have been expelled. "They have not yet received the (expulsion) mail, but what counts is the fact that it is no longer a 5-Star administration". Capuozzo's husband Ignazio Baiano is under investigation for alleged false declarations and alleged breach of construction regulations, ANSA sources said Thursday. This may have been used in an attempt to blackmail Capuozzo by a former councillor at the centre of the mafia-infiltration allegations, Giovanni De Robbio, the sources said. De Robbio, who is alleged linked to the local Camorra mafia, was expelled from the M5S before Capuozzo.