ROME, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Italy's populist Five Star Movement (M5S) was at the center of controversy Monday after an investigative news report revealed some of its elected officials may have lied about mandatory reimbursements of their stipends.
The M5S prides itself on being honest and transparent, unlike Italy's traditional parties, which it claims are all corrupt.
Under M5S internal regulations, members who are elected to public office -- whether at the local, regional, national, or European level -- must give back half of their monthly salaries to the Italian finance ministry.
The reimbursements are paid into a ministry-run fund for small and medium businesses. On Sunday night, the M5S website stated its elected officials have "given back" almost 38 million euros, of which just over 25 million has been given back by MPs.
However there are significant discrepancies between the reimbursements Five Star MPs claimed to have made and the amounts that showed up in the fund, an ex-M5S activist who wished to remain anonymous told Le Iene (Reservoir Dogs) satirical investigative news show in an episode that streamed online Sunday night.
"There are members of parliament who claim they wire money from their personal accounts into the small and medium business fund, but this is not true," the source told Le Iene.
"The overall amount in the fund is far lower than what they declare -- by a lot of money," he said, adding the number of MPs posting fake wires on the Movement website is "in the double digits".
"They say they're Robin Hood, but actually they're the Sheriff of Nottingham," the source said in reference to the legendary character who stole from the rich to give to the poor.
The source named two prominent Five Star MPs, both of them candidates in the March 4 general election: former Five Star whip in the Lower House, Andrea Cecconi, and Senator Carlo Martelli, who sat on the Lower House Commission of Inquiry into the banking crisis.
Between them, Cecconi and Martelli pretended to reimburse nearly 100,000 euros by filing a total of 31 fake wire transfers, the source claimed.
When confronted by Le Iene, both MPs denied the accusation and dropped out of sight, refusing follow-up calls and in one case, shutting down their Facebook account, Le Iene reported.
M5S prime minister candidate Luigi Di Maio initially dismissed the claims as "just an accounting problem", but later on Sunday both Cecconi and Martelli were made to withdraw as candidates in the March 4 election.
The controversy swirled into Monday, with Di Maio assuring reporters that he would "find the rotten apples and kick them out".
As the day wore on, Five Star staffers admitted to ANSA news agency that "more money is missing than initially reported by the press". The amount could be over 1 million euros, ANSA reported late on Monday.
