Five individuals have been convicted of corruption in Rome and more are currently on trial.
Among the convicts is a former councillor for the city, Daniele Ozzimo.
They were all found to have played a role in the so-called Mafia Capitale scandal which involved millions of euros being stolen from the city’s funds which left its infrastructure services seriously damaged.
Ozzimo was sentenced to two years and two months. The others, all former managers at a catering cooperative, were given slightly longer spells in jail.
Their case involved bid-rigging related to a refugee centre in Sicily which is the largest of its kind in Italy.
They were charged with collaborating with Luca Odevaine, one of the scandal’s main orchestrators and the former member of the national panel of coordination for receiving refugees and asylum-seekers.
Some 40 or so other politicians, businessmen and officials are also on trial. All are implicated in rigging tenders with the intention of stealing funds earmarked for such services as waste recycling and care of newly-arrived refugees.
A previous mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, is facing trial in March for corruption and illicit financing for his alleged role in the scandal.
In the nation’s capital, mindless graffiti covers uncountable walls, rusted bicycles are dumped on the streets, and garbage bins overflow.
Broken wooden benches and pot-holed roads are other symbols of the malaise that has hit Rome’s infrastructure as a result. Many talk about public officials getting massive bribes in exchange for contractors using substandard materials for repairs.
"I admit that I was less than attentive and more than once I turned a blind eye to the number of workers assigned to the job and to the quality of the materials," a recently arrested official told the police this week.
While the public officials have had their snouts in the trough, civic minded Romans have begun to do what they can to tidy up their city.
Small groups have been cleaning up parks and gardens to compensate for the failure of their leaders and the theft of public funds.
