THE LONG, complex and seemingly never-ending legal battle between Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Milan-based investigating magistrates has officially resumed with the restart of the Mediaset TV rights trial.
Mediaset, owned by the prime minister, is accused of “fiscal fraud”, in that it allegedly acquired Hollywood movie rights at inflated prices via offshore accounts, in order both to evade taxes and to create a slush fund.
The Mediaset trial was suspended last June because of the so-called “legitimate impediment” law, introduced by the Berlusconi government, which granted Mr Berlusconi a de facto legal immunity while in office. In January, Italy’s constitutional court partially rejected this legislation, ruling it unconstitutional and thus opening the way for the resumption not only of the Mediaset trial but also of another two cases in which he is accused of fraud and corruption.
Mr Berlusconi was not in court yesterday for a hearing which was concerned primarily with procedural details. His defence lawyer, PDL deputy Nicolò Ghedini, said it was more than likely that he would be in court on April 11th when the case resumed.
Before then, however, Mr Berlusconi will feature in three other trials – the Mediatrade case, also concerned with TV rights, resumes on Saturday, while on March 11th, the prime minister is due in court in another resumed case to answer charges that he paid English lawyer David Mills a bribe of $600,000 to commit perjury by offering “reticent” testimony during two court cases involving his Fininvest company in the 1990s.
Then on April 6th, it is the turn of arguably the most controversial case involving Mr Berlusconi, namely the first hearing of the “Rubygate” trial in which he stands accused of “exploitation of underage prostitution” and of “abuse of office”.
Commentators yesterday suggested that he might argue prior commitments, namely an EU summit in Brussels on March 11th and a commemoration ceremony for the L’Aquila earthquake on April 6th, which will preclude him from being in court on those days.
Mr Berlusconi was in Milan yesterday for two public gatherings, one hosted by his PDL party and the other by small business confederation Confcommercio, during which he assumed typically defiant tones.
Calling himself “Italy’s most tried man . . . with 2,952 hearings”, he said they were “media events”. He also criticised state president Giorgio Napolitano, alleging that he and his staff too quickly reject parliamentary legislation – a reference to controversial Berlusconi government measures the president has refused to sign into law.