Rome's grassroots mayor Virginia Raggi on Friday rejected reports that she was in secret negotiations with prosecutors who are probing her for abuse of office and false testimony.
"Phantom negotiations with Rome prosecutors have been invented," Raggio wrote on Facebook
"I feel sorry for those who make things up, but when I have something to say, I'll say it to the magistrates, which is how it should be," Raggi continued.
"The rest are fantasies which will be evaluated by the prosecutors," she added.
She also posted an article from Italian daily Corriere della Sera about the alleged secret negotiations with the words Fake News stamped across it in red capital letters.
Raggi is under investigation over the appointment of Rome city council's tourism department head Renato Marra, the brother of her former personnel chief, Raffaele Marra, who was arrested and removed from his post last month for alleged corruption.
