With weary cynicism, the judge who signed the arrest warrants called it "common corruption". An inquiry by prosecutors in Florence into the award of government contracts for big events has certainly yielded evidence familiar to watchers of Italy's many scandals: lucrative business steered to chosen bidders in return for payment in cash and kind, sometimes including sex. Yet the latest case is unusual in two ways. One is the sum of money involved: suspect contracts totalling almost €800m ($1.1 billion) were awarded for one event alone, the celebration next year of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
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