After investigations started about ENI's and Finmeccanica's suspected bribes, other big names of Italian business fall under the prosecutors’ scrutiny, including the owner of Cagliari football club, Massimo Cellino, for suspected embezzlement, and producer Angelo Rizzoli, who is accused of bankruptcy fraud.
Ten days ahead of the election, Prime Minister Mario Monti compared the situation to the corruption trials that in 1992 prompted the fall of the postwar party system. His challenger Silvio Berlusconi said that bribes paid by ENI and Finmeccanica in Algeria and India are normal “commission fees” that are regularly paid in underdeveloped democracies
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