Berlusconi aide denies he is a fugitive from justice

A Palermo appeals court judge has confirmed that former MEP and senator Marcello Dell'Utri, a lifelong business and political ally of Italy's ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, is now officially a fugitive from justice.

Mr Dell'Utri, who was originally sentenced in 2004 to nine years (later reduced to seven) for collusion with the Mafia group Cosa Nostra, is due to come before the court next Tuesday for what is to be the final and definitive hearing.

If Tuesday’s court decision goes against him, then Mr Dell’Utri is almost certain to be sent to prison. The Palermo investigators confirmed on Friday that they had issued a preventative arrest warrant for Mr Dell’Utri after receiving police notification, based on wiretaps, that he was preparing to leave the country.

In a communiqué last night Mr Dell’Utri, however, denied the he had absconded, saying that he intended to submit himself to judgement next Tuesday, but adding that he was currently out of the country receiving medical treatment for a heart problem. He also said the arrest warrant issued for him was an “aberration”.

Investigators insist, however, that wiretaps featuring his brother Alberto indicate that he has been planning to leave Italy, with the Lebanon, Guinea Bissau in Africa or Santo Domingo in the Caribbean all possible destinations.

Adding intrigue to the speculation was a report in Friday's Turin daily, La Stampa , in which an unnamed Italian airline passenger said that he had sat beside Mr Dell'Utri on a Paris to Beirut flight on March 24th. On arrival in Beirut, said the passenger, Mr Dell'Utri had picked up his luggage and left the airport.

Palermo-born Mr Dell'Utri (72), has been a trusted ally of Mr Berlusconi's since their days as students in Milan. He was responsible not only for running his Publitalia advertising company but he was also the main architect in the construction of Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in the early 1990s.

Investigators have accused Mr Dell’Utri of enlisting the support of Cosa Nostra for Forza Italia. In a remarkable result at the 1994 elections, Forza Italia won all 61 of the 61 single-seat constituencies then contested.