Fiat denies corruption charges

The Fiat car company, thrust into the spotlight of Italy's corruption investigation, yesterday denied magistrates' charges that it had kept offshore slush funds to bribe politicians, Reuter reports from Milan.

City magistrates, spearheading an inquiry into political corruption, had said the company kept a special Swiss bank account and siphoned funds from foreign operations to finance the ruling Christian Democrats and other political parties. But Fiat denied it was company policy to forge 'illicit relationships' with political parties.