Privacy laws - Importance of scrutiny highlighted

FROM afar Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi seems a vain, powerful man used to getting his way.

He also seems unable to curb his predilection for the company of accommodating young women. For the millions who marched on the streets of Italy last weekend he is an embarrassment, an aging, corrupt buffoon whose behaviour makes him unfit for high office.

The 74 year-old’s entanglement with the teenage Moroccan night club dancer Karima El Mahroug — nicknamed Ruby — means he can plan for another day in court. Judge Cristina Di Censo yesterday fixed a trial date for April 6. Prosecutors allege Mr Berlusconi paid for sex with El Mahroug and later used his influence to get police to release her when she was detained on an unrelated theft charge. They allege that Mr Berlusconi feared their relationship would be disclosed.

Responding to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years, Mr Berlusconi’s lawyers said they had “no correspondence with reality”.

The April 6 date won’t unduly bother Mr Berlusconi because he has made, by his own estimation, 2,500 court appearances in 106 trials. He has been accused of embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting and attempting to bribe a judge. He has never been definitively convicted.

He might be even less perturbed if he had the protection of the kind of privacy laws so beloved of those in the public eye. Had he such protection, Italians would not have taken to the streets because they may not know about the paid-for sex parties at his home at Arcore near Milan which he describes as “convivial social events”. Berlusconi also stands accused of using these “bunga bunga” soirees as the selection process for political appointments. In May 2009, one of his former wives accused him of selecting “shamelessly trashy” candidates for the European parliament.

There is no suggestion, not even the vaguest hint, that any of the candidates standing in our election were selected using similar criteria, nonetheless there are those who would suggest that had they been, it would have been a private matter and should be beyond public scrutiny. Berlusconi’s indulgences are not shielded by privacy laws and can anyone really say that they are irrelevant in any assessment of the man’s character?

There is a mood change on these matters and the demands for political reform might change attitudes to privacy laws.

In recent weeks, financier Dermot Desmond published proposals for reshaping politics. He suggested the Dáil should be free to inquire into matters that concerned it. He also proposed that the Dáil must be allowed to hold all public bodies and officers to account, regardless of whether it could impugn their good name or make findings of fact.

He advocated the power to compel witnesses and legislation to protect whistle blowers. These proposals seem a fair balance to any privacy laws and how they might protect politicians or public servants.

There is a crumb of comfort though for those who would prefer the comfort of privacy laws. Opinion polls show that despite the scandals, Mr Berlusconi, hair transplants, face lift and perma tan and all, has more support than his opponents, Italy’s Democratic Party.