Ottaviano Del Turco (born 7 November 1944) is an Italian politician.

Early life

Del Turco was born in Collelongo on 7 November 1944.

Career

After a career in trade unionism in the

Italian General Confederation of Labour The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

(CGIL), Del Turco rose to the top of

Bettino Craxi Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( , , ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th prime minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. He was the first PSI membe ...

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...

(PSI) before it was swept away in the

Tangentopoli ''Mani pulite'' (; Italian for "clean hands") was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the so-called " First Republic" and the disappearance of many Italia ...

scandals of 1992–94. Del Turco was the president of the

Antimafia Commission The Italian parliamentary Antimafia Commission ( it, Commissione parlamentare antimafia) is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The first commission, formed in 1963, was ...

from December 1996 to May 2000. He was

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in the cabinet led by the then prime minister Giuliano Amato from 2000 to 2001. He was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

in 2004 on the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI) ticket and sat with the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom. ...

group. On 20 July 2004, he was elected chair of the committee on employment and social affairs at the parliament. On 4 April 2005 he won the election as president of his native Abruzzo as candidate for centre-left coalition The Union and on 1 May resigned his seat in the

to take up this post. In 2007, he founded the ''Reformist Alliance'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: ''Alleanza Riformista'') movement within the SDI, with which he left the SDI and became a member of the Democratic Party (''Partito Democratico'', PD) at the PD's founding congress on 14 October 2007. He was a member of the 45-strong national council. On 16 July 2008, he resigned as

President of Abruzzo This is the list of presidents of Abruzzo since 1970. ;Elected by the Regional Council (1970–1995) ;Directly-elected presidents (since 1995) ;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Presidents of Abruzzo Politics of Abruzzo Abruzzo , populati ...

and left the national council of the PD.

Controversy

On 14 July 2008, Del Turco was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a 12.8M euro fraud in the financing of the public health system of his region. He was not charged with a crime, but was suspected of corruption and criminal association, prosecutors said. He was among 10 people arrested or placed under house arrest.

Sentencing

Del Turco was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for his involvement in the exchange of health sector bribes. He was convicted by a court in the city of Pescara on Monday 22 July 2013. The sentencing was in connection with a major 15-million-euro (US$19-million) fraud in the financing of the public health system. In addition to the jail term, he was ordered to pay more than 3 million euros in damages and given a lifetime ban on holding public office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Turco, Ottaviano 1944 births Living people Presidents of Abruzzo Italian Democratic Socialists MEPs MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 21st-century Italian politicians People from the Province of L'Aquila Italian Socialist Party politicians Labour Federation (Italy) politicians Democrats of the Left MEPs Italian Socialists politicians Finance ministers of Italy Heads of government who were later imprisoned Italian politicians convicted of crimes