Claudio Scajola

Claudio Scajola
Minister of Economic Development
In office 8 May 2008 – 4 May 2010
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Pier Luigi Bersani
Succeeded by	Silvio Berlusconi (ad interim)
Personal details
Born	15 January 1948 Imperia
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Forza Italia (2013-present)
Other political affiliations	Christian Democracy (1970s-1994) Forza Italia (1994-2009) The People of Freedom (2009-2013)
Alma mater	University of Genoa

Claudio Scajola (Italian pronunciation: [ˈklaudjo skaˈjɔːla]; born 15 January 1948 in Imperia) is an Italian politician.

Career

A long-time Christian Democrat, he was mayor of Imperia in the eighties, as his father and his brother had been. When Christian Democracy disbanded, he joined Forza Italia in 1995. He was then elected deputy in 1996 and was national coordinator of the party from 1996 to 2001 (and again in 2003). Minister Scajola has been a strong advocate for the Italian re-entry into commercial use of nuclear power for the generation of electricity.

He was minister of interior from 2001 to 2002 and later minister of productive activities in the third cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi.^[1] In 2006 he was elected President of committee for control on Secret Service of Italian Parliament.

He has been nicknamed SkyOla because allegedly has been using Alitalia airplanes for private use. An unnecessary air route has been created from Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport to Villanova d'Albenga International Airport which he uses regularly for traveling from and to his parliamentary job, rarely it is used by other passengers.^[2] This scandal was exposed in 2008 by the RAI television program AnnoZero.

After the elections of 2008, Scajola was the minister of economic development.

In April 2010 Italian newspapers wrote that Scajola, in July 2004, reportedly used €1,100,000 in slush funds to buy a flat in Rome near the Colosseum At least €900,000 of those funds where reportedly traced as coming from Diego Anemone, a real estate developer under accusation of public servants bribing.^[3][4] In May 2010, Scajola resigned from office.

Arrest

On the 8th of May 2014, Scajola was arrested for aiding the escape of Amedeo Matacena, an ex member of parliament accused of criminal involvement with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, and remains in police custody.^[5]

Notable statements

On June 2002 Scajola is in Cyprus talking to journalists and say: "Marco Biagi was only a jerk, only thinking about the renewal of his contract". Marco Biagi was killed by terrorists on March 2002 and Scajola was home minister. Scajola had to resign because of this sentence on 4 July 2002. Despite this, Berlusconi continued to consider him as one of the good ones.

References

1. "Italy: Berlusconi Iii Sworn In; Likely to Be Confirmed This Week". Wikileaks. 26 April 2005. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
2. Sergio Rizzo, Le doppie dimissioni del ministro di sangue dc, "Corriere della sera", 10 May 2010.
3. "Scajola, le carte che accusano", La Repubblica, 30 April 2010
4. "Scajola, le nuove accuse", Corriere della Sera, 30 April 2010
5. "Scajola arrestato dalla Dia: "Ha favorito la latitanza dell'ex deputato Matacena"". La Repubblica. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.

External links

• Official Site (in Italian)
• Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian): XIII, XIV, XV legislature