Berlusconi fights court corruption charges
The billionaire business mogul is accused of bribing judges in Rome to sway in his favour a ruling on the sale of former state-controlled food company SME in the 1980s. The premier said then-Premier Bettino Craxi asked him to get involved because the arranged sale-price of the company was too low.
"I had no direct interest and Craxi begged me to intervene because he believed the operation damaged the state," the premier told a packed Milan courtroom.
