A southern Italian mayor has spoken of his disgust after he was offered a tin of Christmas biscuits that turned out to be a €20,000 bribe.

Franco Metta, the mayor of Cerignola in Puglia, said an executive from a waste management company came to his office with the apparent tin of biscuits and a Christmas card.

“We had an appointment to meet in a week’s time and he came and left me a Christmas package,” Mr Metta said.

“I opened the box but instead of biscuits there were €20,000 in banknotes. I immediately called the police.”

A former criminal lawyer, Mr Metta said he telephoned the businessman in front of the police and attacking him with “insults in every language I know”.