NO ONE who knows Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi could ever expect this particular leopard to change his spots.
Thus it was that yesterday he found himself at the centre of another blazing row after his government had attempted to slip a “Save Fininvest” clause into the provisions of a four-year, €47 billion austerity package announced last week.
Such was the opposition to the measure, seemingly designed to save the Berlusconi holding company a possible €750 million fine, that by the end of the day it had been dropped.
Media reports yesterday claimed that when the austerity package arrived on the desk of state president Giorgio Napolitano for approval, it contained an intriguing novelty item. The clause, secreted in more than 100 pages of dense legalese, would enable defendants directed to pay compensation of more than €20 million to suspend payment until they have exhausted any appeals.
The point, of course, is that it had little or nothing to do with the package presented by finance minister, Guilio Tremonti. Rather it intended to save Mr Berlusconi a possible €750 million fine when a Milan court on Saturday issues a verdict on the 20-year long Mondadori-CIR saga.
This concerns a boardroom struggle between Mr Berlusconi and tycoon Carlo De Benedetti back in the late 1980s for control of Italy’s biggest publishing house, Mondadori. First it seemed the Mondadori family had sold a majority holding to Mr De Benedetti. However it then seemed the family changed its mind and sold their shares to Mr Berlusconi.
Litigation ensued, with judge Vittorio Metta in 1991 finally ruling in favour of Mr Berlusconi who has since controlled the company. The problem about that was that in 2003 a Milan court issued a 13-year sentence (reduced to three years) to the judge, ruling that he had accepted a 400 million lire (some €200,000) bribe from lawyers, including former defence minister Cesare Previti, acting on behalf of Mr Berlusconi’s Fininvest company.
When Mr De Benedetti then returned to court in October 2009, looking for damages, another Milan court ruled that Fininvest should pay a €750 million fine by way of sanction.
That fine may well be confirmed on Saturday.
All of which explains just why someone, somewhere in high places tried to slip in a “Save Fininvest” clause.
Opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani said the prime minister had “tried it on” while government ally the Northern League was uneasy, claiming to have known nothing about it.