Lower House denies prosecutors access to Delmastro's chat messages

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 22 - A Lower House panel on Wednesday denied a request from the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office to have access to chat messages between Andrea Delmastro, an MP for Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, and Mauro Caroccia, a restaurateur convicted for ties with Neapolitan Camorra mafia boss Michele Senese. Delmastro quit as justice undersecretary in March after it emerged that he had been a partner in a Rome restaurant with Caroccia's teenage daughter. The MP said he has done nothing wrong and was only guilty of not being careless about his choice of business partner, stressing that he ended the partnership when he found out about Caroccia's judicial problems. Lawmakers from the opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) occupied the government's benches in the Senate in protest at Wednesday's decision and the session had to be suspended. (ANSA).