Italy: Member of the Left, a symbol of migrant workers in the fields, in the shadow of scandal

Abubakar Sumahoro, newly elected Member of Parliament of the Italian Left who had embodied the struggles immigrants who work in the fields of the Italian regions, quit his faction’s parliamentary group yesterday as he faces growing scandal.

His mother-in-law is accused of mismanaging the reimgs of cooperatives active in the support and accommodation of immigrants.

The partner of the 42-year-old Italian MP also worked in the cooperatives originally from Ivory Coast. According to press reports, allegedly secured earnings of tens of thousands of euros.

At the same time, according to press information, the cooperatives allegedly owed large sums for their workers’ accruals.

Andrea Pupila, Catholic priest of the San Severo region, also complains that the current deputy in the past allegedly helped raise money to buy gifts for immigrant children, but “doesn’t appear to have had children”.

Abubakar Soumahoro left because of the uproar, initially “temporarily”, from the group of the Italian Left and the Greens in the Italian Parliament, nevertheless maintaining the status of a member of parliament.

In his statements on Thursday night (24/11) on the show “Piazza Poulita” of the Italian private channel La 7, he said that “imputes to himself some frivolity”insisting at the same time that he has not committed anything criminal.

“The cooperatives delayed the payment of salaries because the state aid was late,” he said, while “I did not know that in some cases the conditions inside the structures were not suitable.”

Asked how does he comment on the fact that his partner was photographed with clothes and accessories worth thousands of eurosthe MP simply said that “it’s about personal choices”, that “fashion is a choice”.

Soumahoro is not facing a judicial investigation at this stage, but the case has caused a stir and continues to grow, as the MP it has in the recent past been a symbol of the claims of migrants working, often under miserable conditions, in the fields of Lower Italy.