Former conservative Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno is to stand trial in March for corruption and illegal party financing, a Rome judge announced on Friday amid a wider investigation into organised crime in the capital.
Alemanno, 57, is accused of having taken bribes worth 125,000 euros between 2012 and 2014 and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
He is not accused of links to the Italian mafia and denies any wrongdoing. "I have a clear conscience," Alemanno said in comments to the media after his indictment.
"I have faith in justice system and am certain that the absolute rectitude of my conduct will emerge from the trial," he said.
Prosecutors claim the bribes were paid to Alemanno's New Italy Foundation by Salvatore Buzzi, the sidekick of Rome mobster and former neofascist Massimo Carminati and the ex-head of Rome's trash collection company Franco Panzironi.
Carminati, Buzzi and Panzironi are among 46 people who went on trial last month for operating a mafia crime gang in Rome where councillors, mobsters and businessmen allegedly stole millions of euros of public money.
The alleged mafia-style network flourished in Rome after Alemanno's election in 2008 and was laid bare in a major investigation that led to the arrests of over 100 people.
The probe exposed graft among politicians of all political stripes, who allegedly colluded with officials and corrupt businessmen to rig public tenders and siphon off cash from services ranging from refugee camps to garbage collection, according to prosecutors.
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