Italians queue up for politician's cash gift

Rome: Thousands of Italians queued for hours yesterday to receive free handouts of 50,000 lire (£17) from a maverick politician who is protesting at the use of taxpayers' money to finance political parties.

About 3,000 people waited all morning in sweltering heat in front of Rome's Campidoglio, or city hall, to receive a wad of cash from Marco Pannella's Radical Party, which handed out an estimated 150 million lire.

The cash was distributed in 10,000 lire notes stamped with the words: "This is part of the loot stolen from each citizen. The Radical Party has decided not to use this stolen money and to give it back. Put it to good use."

Under a law reintroduced this year after a twoyear hiatus, the Government has given 160 billion lire of tax revenues to political parties, distributed according to their size. Signor Pannella's party received 2.7 billion lire.

The law had been repealed by a referendum in 1993, largely because of public outrage over the Tangentopoli "Bribesville" scandals that exposed hundreds of politicians and businessmen involved in illegal party financing.

The Radical Party, which supports the independent financing of parties, wants to scrap the law again. "This is a day to remember, with Italians celebrating honest people and not those who steal," Signor Pannella said.

Last month he gave away £70,000 in northern Italy.

(Reuter)