Italy govt rallies behind minister over fraud case

ROME, June 5 (Reuters) Italy's government today closed ranks behind a top official under pressure to step down after accusations that he tried to interfere in a police probe into a bank linked to the ruling centre left.

One minister warned that a parliamentary debate on Wednesday over the issue could bring down the government if the fractious coalition did not unite.

Deputy Economy Minister Vincenzo Visco is accused of putting pressure on the financial police, which investigates fraud and customs, as it probed a takeover attempt by insurance company Unipol of an Italian bank a year ago.

''If a ruling coalition motion does not get approved the government will fall,'' Justice Minister Clemente Mastella said.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government supports Visco, who is accused by the opposition of trying without success to remove the officers heading the Unipol investigation.

Financial police chief General Roberto Speciale was fired by the cabinet on Friday after 46 years' service, months before he was due to retire. He turned down an alternative job offer.

''They have violated me, but I am leaving with my head held high,'' Speciale said.

The charges were published by newspaper Il Giornale which is owned by the brother of Silvio Berlusconi, the conservative prime minister defeated by Prodi in last year's elections.

Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is calling for Visco's resignation.

With a preliminary court ruling that no crime was committed, it has become the policeman's word against that of a centre-left stalwart who has been finance minister in previous governments.

With the Visco story rarely off the front pages for weeks, the communist president of the lower house of parliament, Fausto Bertinotti, said while the institutional fallout might be limited ''I do see political repercussions -- major ones''.

In February, Prodi was forced to resign briefly after a leftist revolt in the Senate, where he has one seat majority.

This time the left is more supportive because it sniffs an opposition plot to destabilise Prodi when his popularity is low and the media is debating a morale crisis in Italian politics.

''The parliamentary debate on the Visco case tomorrow must find the coalition united to fend off these attempts by the centre right to destabilise the government,'' said Paolo Cento, an economy ministry undersecretary from the Green party.

REUTERS ABM RK2145