Mario Tanassi (17 March 1916[1] – 5 May 2007) was an Italian politician, who was several times Minister of the Italian Republic. In 1979 he was condemned by theConstitutional Court of Italy for his involvement in theLockheed bribery scandal.
Tanassi was born atUruri, in theprovince of Campobasso.[2] He joined theItalian Democratic Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano; PSDI) and was later national co-secretary, alongsideFrancesco De Martino, of theunified PSI-PSDI, a short-lived reunion of the PSDI and theItalian Socialist Party.[3][4] In 1963 he became a deputy in theChamber of Deputies, a position he would hold until 1979.[5]
He was minister of defence for the first time in theRumor II Cabinet (1970), formed by an alliance betweenChristian Democracy (DC), PSI and PSDI. In 1972 he was again appointed as minister of defence, as well as vice-prime minister, in theAndreotti II Cabinet (in which theItalian Liberal Party had replaced the Socialists). Tanassi was minister of defence for the third time in the fourth Rumor Government (DC-PSI-PSDI-PRI).
After a short tenure in 1972, in June 1975 he again became national secretary of the PSDI, replacing Flavio Orlandi. Soon afterwards, he was involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal together with Mariano Rumor andLuigi Gui, causing him to lose his position as the party's secretary. In 1979 the Constitutional Court of Italy found him guilty of bribery and he spent four months in jail.[6] He was the first Italian former minister to serve a prison sentence and the first politician convicted before the nationwideClean Hands corruption scandals in the 1990s.[7]
Media related toMario Tanassi at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Secretary of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1964-1966 | Succeeded by Unification with theItalian Socialist Party |
| Preceded by | Secretary of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1975-1976 | Succeeded by |
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