ITALY: A judge in Sicily has ordered the island's top official to stand trial on charges of aiding the Mafia, according to news reports.
The decision by Palermo judge Bruno Fasciana to indict Sicilian president Salvatore Cuffaro and 12 others is part of a broader case which centres on a businessman suspected of Mafia links, the ANSA news agency said.
The trial was set to start in February. Mr Cuffaro, a member of the Christian Democrat party who is the equivalent of governor on the Mediterranean island, denies the charges against him.
"In the trial, we will show that Cuffaro is not involved with assisting" the Mafia, his defence lawyer, Mr Claudio Gallina Montana said.
Sicilian businessman Mr Michele Aiello, the figure at the heart of the case, was arrested last year and was among those ordered to stand trial.
He is suspected of links with fugitive Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano.
Provenzano is believed to have taken over as the mob's top boss after the arrest of Toto Riina in 1993. A Mafia turncoat, Antonino Giuffre, has reportedly told investigators that Provenzano received secret medical treatment at a clinic owned by Mr Aiello, in a seaside town near Palermo.
Prosecutors say that Mr Cuffaro had links to Mr Aiello.
Police recorded conversations in the house of one Mafia boss during the regional election campaign in 2001, in which links between the Mafia and local politics were detailed and Mr Cuffaro's name was mentioned repeatedly, the news agency said.
The recorded conversations led to several arrests but stopped when some of the transcripts were leaked.
Prosecutors suspect police official Mr Giorgio Riolo, also indicted yesterday , of leaking the information.