(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 16 - Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has been put under investigation and his Transport Chief Renato Boraso was arrested and taken to jail on Tuesday in relation to a corruption probe, sources said.
    Police also searched the home of Boraso, 56, the sources said.
    Boraso was among two people taken to prison in relation to the case, with the other being construction businessman Fabrizio Ormenese, the sources said.
    Seven other suspects were put under house arrest and 18 people are under investigation in total, including Brugnaro, his chief of staff Morris Ceron and deputy chief of staff Derek Donadini, the sources said.
    The case against Brugnaro concerns the negotiations for the sale of the 'Pili' area he owns overlooking the Venice lagoon to Singaporean businessman Chiat Kwong Ching, the sources said.
    The warrant to search Donadini's home said that he, Brugnaro, Ceron had settled on "a price of 150 million euros" with Ching in exchange for a promise to double the volume of construction it is possible to have on the land in question and make it possible to approve a 348,000-square-metre commercial and residential building project.
    The warrant also alleged that the three agreed with Ching and his representative in Italy to sell a city building, Palazzo Poerio Papadopoli, at around 10.8 million, lower than the estimated market value of 14 million, to facilitate negotiation for the sale of the 'Pili' land.
    Brugnaro said that he was "astounded" that he had been put under investigation, saying he had done nothing wrong.
    "In my heart and in conscience, I know that I have always undertaken, and will continue to undertake, the office of mayor as a service to the community, for free, always putting public interests first," Brugnaro said in a statement.
    He also dismissed the hypothesis that he may be acted wrongfully in relation to building permits and town planning decisions regarding the city's Pili area as "totally unfounded".
    "As you know, and as I have publicly explained, it was already possible to build in this area before my administration'," he said. (ANSA).