Marino presents plan before returning to US to join Pope Francis.

Rome's mayor Iganzio Marino has launched a three-year plan to prevent corruption and another three-year plan to foster an environment of transparency and integrity in city hall.

The government-approved plans were announced on 21 September, branded Giornata della Trasparenza (Transparency Day) by the city administration.

The anti-corruption and transparency plans are in response to the so-called Mafia Capitale case which is investigating more than 100 public officials and business figures – including the previous mayor Gianni Alemanno – on suspicion of crimes including bid-rigging, racketeering, aggravated fraud, issuing false invoices, and tax evasion.

Marino presented the plans before flying to the US city of Philadelphia where he will join Pope Francis during his visit to the US at the important World Meeting of Families on 26 September.

Alemanno has accused his successor of "doing another runner" to the United States, with the pope's visit as an "excuse". He said Marino's US trip comes hot on the heels of the mayor's recent "lengthy holiday" in America, during which the city witnessed the controversial “funeral-show" of gangster Vittorio Casamonica.

The new city plans come as Rome prepares for the Vatican's Holy Jubilee Year, which begins on 8 December and is expected to attract many millions of pilgrims to the capital.