Health Minister Francesco Storace announced his resignation on Friday amid polemics over alleged political espionage against his political opponents.
Storace, the second member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government to quit in the last month, has denied any involvement in spying operations against two of his rivals in a 2005 regional election.
"The very suspicion that I could have orchestrated a political manoeuvre against my adversaries causes me pain and arouses my indignation," he said.
He said he was resigning in order to prevent the centre-left opposition exploiting the situation ahead of April 9 general elections.
Milanese prosecutors say private detectives were paid to monitor and gather private information on other candidates in last year's vote for the presidency of the regional government of Lazio. Newspapers on Friday published wiretaps in which private
eyes were heard talking about their operations, which appeared to include active sabotage, on behalf of Storace's campaign.
Storace has admitted contact with Pierpaolo Pasqua, one of the private detectives implicated. He said the PI carried out "screening" operations for his team because "we were afraid we were being spied on during our electoral campaign". In one published transcript, the head of a Milanese private investigations agency described how he had put false signatures among those needed by hard-right candidate Alessandra Mussolini in order to stand for election.
Mussolini's candidacy was temporarily turned down by election authorities because of irregularities in the signatures she deposited. The Milanese prosecutors' probe led to the arrest this week of 11 private detectives, three police officers and two
phone company employees. The detainees are believed to have been involved in much wider espionage, most of it for industrial purposes.
According to prosecutors, the detectives paid the policemen and Telecom staff to give them private information about the legal status and telephone calls of people who were of interest to their clients. Storace's political allies praised his decision to resign as a noble act, saying it was a lesson to everyone.
"I appreciate this gesture of great morality," said Berlusconi, adding expressions of personal esteem for Storace.
The centre-left opposition welcomed the departure and said it was a sign of the "seriousness" of the allegations against Storace.
"There is something rotten on the Right," said Piero Fassino, leader of the Democratic Left, the largest opposition party.
Centre-left leader Romano Prodi, tipped by most polls to be the next premier, noted that the departure of Storace came two weeks after the ousting of Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli in a row over his views on Islam. "This shows that the end of this legislature is a real catastrophe," he said.
Defiant to the end, Storace said he could remain in politics without a top job and pointed out that Milanese investigators had summoned him for questioning. So far the probe has focused on the alleged spies rather than the people they were working for.
