Page "Christian Democracy (Italy)" Paragraph 28

Having ruled Italy for over 40 years with no alternative other than the Italian Communist Party, DC members had ample opportunity to abuse their power, and some did.

In the 1960s scandals involved frauds such as huge illegal profits in the administration of banana import quotas, preferential allocation of purposely misprinted ( and, therefore, rare ) postage stamps.

Giovanni Leone was forced to resign as President of the Italian Republic in 1978, after a scandal involving Lockheed aeroplanes.

He was later acquitted.