Junior culture minister in Italy resigns amid allegations of laundering stolen cultural assets

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) — Italian Culture Undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi resigned amid a criminal probe into the alleged laundering of cultural assets, media reports said Friday.

The 71-year-old art critic announced his resignation on the sidelines of an event in Milan, state-run ANSA news agency reported.

"I am resigning with immediate effect as undersecretary of the government and will inform (Prime Minister Giorgia) Meloni in the next few hours," said Sgarbi, who had been investigated by prosecutors.

In early January, prosecutors in the central Italian city of Macerata announced an investigation into Sgarbi over alleged laundering of stolen cultural assets. The work in question was a painting by Renaissance artist Rutilio di Lorenzo Manetti, stolen from the Castello di Buriasco, in the northwestern Piedmont region, in 2013, according to the report.