ITALIAN EX-HEALTH CHIEF REARRESTED

Former italian Health Minister Francesco de Lorenzo has been arrested again under a new wave of investigations into alleged bribes and illegal connections between pharmaceutical companies and the state health administration.

Stripped (with other Members of Parliament and ex-ministers) of immunity from judicial investigations, Mr de Lorenzo has already stood trial on charges of fraud relating to elections, which he has denied. He is also to appear in court on June 7 in a case of alleged bribes for a public contract to build parking facilities in Naples, his hometown.

Mr de Lorenzo has admitted receiving money from pharmaceutical manufacturers in return for speeding their products through ministry bureaucracy to obtain market authorizations more quickly, but he has always claimed that the money went to his party, the former Liberal Party. The detention order against the ex-minister stems from 67 counts of criminal conspiracy, corruption and illegal financing of political parties, with total bribes alleged to amount to around 7 billion lire ($4.4 million).