Naples anti-mafia prosecutors on Tuesday asked Italy's lower house of parliament to arrest conservative MP Carlo Sarro as part of an operation that led to the arrests of 13 people for ties to the Camorra crime syndicate.
Police also seized bank accounts worth some 11 million euros in the operation, which came as part of a probe into graft in the southern Campania region's water utilities and illicit financing of local politicians.
The former mayor of the city of Caserta, Pio Del Gaudio from Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and two ex-members of the Campania regional council were among the 13 people arrested on Tuesday.
The suspects are accused of association with the Camorra's powerful Casalesi clan, corruption, false registration of assets, rigging public tenders and illegal party financing.
Some of the suspects are alleged to be members of the Casalesi and others to have abetted the clan, according to investigators.
Among those arrested was property developer Giuseppe Fontana, who in 2010 allegedly paid bribes to Del Gaudio and to former Campania regional councillor Angelo Polverino, from Berlusconi's former People of Freedom party.
Investigators say Fontana paid slush funds of 30,000 euros in 2010 to Polverino and 20,000 euros in 2011 to Del Gaudio to finance their successful election campaigns, in exchange for public contracts.
