This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Italy’s far-right League may be forced to change its name and relaunch as a new party to avoid the seizure of €49m (£44m) over a fraud conspiracy.

A court in Genoa ordered the permanent seizure of the sum from the League, which governs in coalition with the populist Five Star Movement, over a vast conspiracy relating to electoral reimbursements between 2008 and 2010.

It is the largest electoral scandal in the history of the party, which now faces the risk of bankruptcy and could eventually cease to exist.

The investigation in 2017 led to the conviction of the League’s founder and former leader, Umberto Bossi, as well as other party members including the treasurer Francesco Belsito.

Judges contend that funds the state reimbursed for elections between 2008 and 2010 were misappropriated for personal use such as purchasing diamonds and gold bars.

Bossi was given a 30-month jail sentence and resigned as party secretary while continuing to represent the League in the senate. Belsito was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison.

On Thursday, a judge from the review commission in Genoa ordered the final and permanent seizure of all bank accounts tied to the party because the funds were unaccounted for in party ledgers. The League is not thought to have enough reserves to pay the €49m.

Last month, the League’s leader, Matteo Salvini, who is not under investigation, said he “hasn’t ever seen that money”, and he continued to accuse magistrates of using their power for political ends.

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According to sources close to the League, Salvini is considering changing the name of the party to avoid paying the bill. The League, founded in 1989 as the Northern League, would then cease to exist, replaced by a new far-right party.

Salvini, Italy’s interior minister, has always publicly dismissed the option of changing the name, but on Friday a senior League official, Giancarlo Giorgetti, said: “If the court confiscates the money, the League is over.”

Sources suggested the new party could be named after Salvini’s favourite slogan, “Italians first”. Other options mentioned by Italian newspapers close to the party were “National League” or “League for Salvini”.