Report: Museum hasn't made deal with Rome

CLEVELAND, May 9 (UPI) -- A lawyer for the Italian Culture Ministry in Rome said the Cleveland Museum of Art has not yet agreed to return more than a dozen allegedly looted antiquities.

A published report said an agreement had been made, but both parties told The Cleveland Plain Dealer no such deal pertaining to the unspecified items had been completed.

Maurizio Fiorilli, the lawyer handling the negotiations for Italy, confirmed the ministry had made a statement, but said it was merely "an expression of hope" and "an expression of desire that the negotiations would conclude shortly."

Museum Director Timothy Rub declined to discuss the matter further with the newspaper Friday afternoon, but he did say the museum was preparing a more detailed statement.

Fiorilli didn't offer details about the antiquities and would say only "we have signaled that there are a certain number of works that are of sure Italian provenance, works that were acquired on the European market from persons more or less connected with a network of traffickers that also supplied other American museums."

He said it wouldn't be the museum's fault if its due diligence failed to show it had acquired pieces taken illegally from Italy.

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