Miraviglia scandal
| Country | Etruria |
|---|---|
| Started | 3 April 2016 |
| Judges | Carmine della Chiesa Giorgio Urbano Cassini Pierligui Versace |
The Miraviglia scandal (Vespasian: Scandalo miraviglia) was a political corruption scandal and judicial investigation that took place in Etruria from 2016 to 2018, resulting directly in the collapse of the Etrurian Federalist Party-led coalition government and indirectly, the rejection of EC membership in the 2016 referendum and the victory of the far-right Tribune Movement in the August 2016 federal election. The investigation led to the arrests of hundreds of politicians, civil servants and judiciary officers, including former President Emiliano Reali, former Deputy President Andrea Salvini.
The investigation discovered the Reali government (2011-2016) had used bribes to secure the agreeing opinion of four Constitutional Court judges over the government's introduction of Eminent domain powers which were used to purchase land for development or construction projects that did not actually exist, these were funded by federal government contracts. The money awarded for these fake projects was distributed through a series of front companies owned by EFP donors and then transferred to politicians, civil servants and others involved in the scheme. According to the investigation close to €650 million (₣2.94 billion in 2022) of tax-payers money was lost to the scheme.
The scandal has been described as one of the "most seismic events" in modern Etrurian history and one of the most consequential owing to its direct and indirect results and effects on Etrurian politics, culture and society. Some analysts claim the scandal had decimated the Etrurian "love affair" with Sotirian democracy and mainstream parties in general, while it is universal accepted among commentators that the scandal provided the fertile environment and atmosphere for the election of the first far-right government since the Solarian War.
Name
The term Miraviglia directly translates into Vespasian as wonder, astonishment, amazement, surprise and was drawn exclusively from one of the fake projects, dubbed "Piazza Miraviglia" (lit. Wonder Place), a supposed federally funded theme park in the state of Carvagna. The term was introduced during the earliest days of the scandal by the Telegrafo Solariano, which wrote in an editorial, "of all the fake projects produced to steal money from the people, Piazza Miraviglia is truly the most apt, for are not we all in utter wonder of their criminality and gangsterism?"