After the investigation into his mother-in-law made headlines across Italy, Aboubakar Soumahoro suspended himself from his Green and Left Alliance on Thursday (November 24).

Following two days of talks between party leaders and Soumahoro, Green Europe chief Angelo Bonelli and Italian Left leader Nicola Fratoianni said Thursday that "with the utmost freedom, Aboubakar Soumahoro has told us he has decided to suspend himself from the parliamentary caucus of Green Europe-Left."

They said "we respect this decision which, albeit not mandatory, shows the utmost respect that Aboubkara Soumahoro has for the institutions and the value of the political commitment to promote the issues of the battles in defence of the marginalised that we have always shared with him."

Soumahoro himself did not comment on his decision publicly as of Friday afternoon.

The well-known Ivorian-born migrant rights activist was elected to the Italian parliament in September. He is the only black member of the parliament in Rome. When he entered parliament for the first time as an MP, he wore muddy rubber boots, to pay tribute to his activism for farmworkers.

Soumahoro himself is not under investigation. He has said that he had nothing to do with the alleged crimes and has painted the accusations as an political attack against himself.

Mother-in-law, wife accused of worker exploitation and embezzlement

Italian authorities are looking into accusations that their two cooperatives operated by Marie Therese M. -- Soumahoro's the mother-in-law -- failed to pay workers, gave irregular contracts to staff, issued false invoices and mistreated migrants placed in their care. M. was placed under investigation by prosecutors in Latina south of Rome.

Soumahoro's wife Liliane M. was also involved in running the two cooperatives, Karibu and Consorzio Aid.

In addition to the Latina investigation, it emerged on Thursday (November 24) that the labor inspectorate has been looking into the cooperatives for the past few months. At the center of their probe are also accusations that employees were not paid and that contracts were not in compliance with regulations.

The cooperatives have said they were also waiting for payments from local authorities and that this is why the workers had not been paid yet. Some people who were housed in facilities managed by the cooperatives have said in interviews with the media that those within were subjected to "unacceptable living conditions."

The Latina branch of the Italian Union of Tourism, Commerce and Service Workers (UILTuCS) reportedly collected reports from about 30 workers from the cooperatives in June. In response to the current media frenzy over the accusations, Union leader Gianfranco Cartisano said "where were the official agencies, the political world in general [back then]?"

Former residents at centers run by the cooperatives -- including minors -- reported that they faced poor hygiene, a lack of electricity, clothes, food, and water, and were given no ‘pocket money’ -- even though they were entitled to €10 a day, according to news site Euractiv.

With Reuters