The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office has requested the indictment of the former Undersecretary for Culture, Vittorio SgarbiThe case, the subject of investigations closed by Piazzale Clodio magistrates last November, concerns the alleged failure to pay a €715 debt to the Revenue Agency. Sgarbi is accused of violating Article 11 of the Tax Crimes Act, concerning fraudulent evasion of tax payments.
The investigation, which began in October 2020, focuses on the auction purchase of a painting by Vittorio Zecchin, entitled "The Garden of the Fairies."
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"The lawyers will justify it through the profound contradiction of a magistrate who believes that, while I was simultaneously purchasing works of art for myself, I should have used my girlfriend for a painting that, in fact, was hers and had been given to her as a gift. It seems legitimate to me to give gifts. We live in a country so devoid of principles that it's assumed that buying a painting must necessarily be for one's own benefit, yet it can be a gift, as was the case in this case."
Speaking about the request for indictment, Sgarbi added: "I paid my taxes, I did the notarization, I didn't divert any funds from taxes, and those funds weren't mine, but belonged to a gentleman, a banker, who gave that painting to my girlfriend. It's incredible. If someone doesn't even want to see the papers, the lawyers will show them.", concluded Sgarbi.
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