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Matthew Vella
Sergio Billé, one of the first sponsors of the University of Malta’s Link Campus in Rome, has been put under house arrest, accused of corruption in an inquiry being led by the Rome prosecutor.
The former president of Confcommercio, Italy’s chamber of commerce, is believed to have accepted a EUR50 million bribe on the award of the management of Enasarco property, an entity belonging to Confcommercio.
Billé was amongst the first sponsors of the University of Malta’s Link Campus at the San Leone Magno college in Rome.
Link Campus is the Italian branch of the university, founded in 1998 as the first foreign higher education institute to receive approval from the Italian Department of Education to operate in Italy.
The president of the Link Campus is Vincenzo Scotti, known as ‘Tarzan’ in the Italian press for swinging to and from many political sides.
Billé was the president of the association of entities and businesses who sustain the activities of the campus in his capacity as Confcommercio president. The so-called Associazione Amici della Link Campus (Friends of Link Campus) was founded to promote the activities of Link Campus in certain sectors, principally tourism and trade.
Since December 1999, Sergio Billé has occupied no role in the association or the Link Campus, which some sources claim was his brainchild as Confcommercio president.
Link Campus president Vincenzo Scotti is also a former Italian foreign minister and a former secretary of the Italian DC between 1984 to 1989. He resigned as minister in 1992. Scotti was at the centre of one of the Tangentopoli investigations, as well as having been investigated by the Italian secret services on charges of association with the Neapolitan Camorra, charges which were later defeated.
Following the start of investigations over the allegations of corruption, Billé suspended himself from Confcommercio president.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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