Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Undersecretary of Finance Nicola Cosentino faces possible arrest on suspicion of colluding with the Mafia, Chamber of Deputies President Gianfranco Fini said in an interview broadcast by Sky TG24.

“This morning, the president of the Chamber was notified of the request to arrest” Cosentino, said Fini, whose office was notified of the request because a Chamber committee must authorize it.

While the undersecretary is presumed innocent until the judicial process is complete, Cosentino’s candidacy to become president of the region of Campania in elections next year is no longer “possible,” Fini said today.

Cosentino, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party, said the accusations “are rubbish,” La Stampa newspaper reported today, citing an interview.

The arrest request is part of a “smear campaign” aimed at “preventing and discrediting” his candidacy, Niccolo Ghedini, a lawyer for Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party, said in an e- mailed statement. The charges “are incredible and baseless.”

Asked whether he backs his undersecretary, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti told reporters in Brussels today that he would not comment on domestic issues while abroad.

Italian newspapers said Cosentino is accused of collusion on garbage-disposal issues with the Camorra, a Naples-area crime group made famous by Roberto Saviano’s book “Gomorrah.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Lorenzo Totaro in Brussels at ltotaro@bloomberg.net; Steve Scherer in Rome at sscherer@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 08:58 EST