Story found here;
http://www.forces.org/News_Portal/news_viewer.php?id=1030
So what was Girolamo Sirchia's crime?
"The former Berlusconi health minister has been judged guilty of corruption and embezzlement...according to the magistrates, Sirchia has cashed payolas by multinationals to favour their supplies (over the competition)."
The fact is that Sirchia's crime is no different than health departments, non-profits, politicians and smoking ban lobbyists around the globe who accepted $446+ million from Nicoderm, Nicoderm CQ, Nicotrol, Nicorette manufacturer Johnson & Johnson's foundation the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).....cashing payolas (grants) by multinationals to favour their supplies (over the competition).
What is the special interest motive of smoking bans?
Nearly $1 billion in domestic annual sales of pharmaceutical nicotine products.
CTA anxiously awaits the corruption prosecution of pro-smoking ban lobbyists and payola recipients in the USA.......especially since the effect of the smoking bans has been massive nationwide elimination of small businesses and jobs across the landscape.
Over 270+ bars and restaurants closed in the Twin Cities area alone, eliminating approximately 10,000 jobs.
Elsewhere, more than 1,000 establishments and approximately 100,000 jobs have been documented as being eliminated by Nicoderm financed smoking ban activists to favour their supplies (over the competition).