Berlusconi faces charges in fraud investigation

A JUDGE in Milan held an opening hearing yesterday on a request by prosecutors to indict Premier Silvio Berlusconi on charges of false accounting, tax fraud and embezzlement.

Legal proceedings also began against the husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell on allegations of tax fraud and money laundering.

Company lawyer David Mills is alleged to have set up offshore firms that helped Berlusconi’s media company avoid tax liability on TV rights. Mr Mills denies any wrongdoing, and was not at the hearing.

Besides Mr Mills and Mr Berlusconi, 12 other people also face possible charges of money laundering and tax fraud.

The session was adjourned without decision to November 7. The judge decided more time was needed to study court documents.

No decision on the indictment request had been expected by Judge Fabio Paparella, lawyer Nicola Ghedini had said.

Mr Berlusconi, who was leading a Cabinet meeting in Rome while the hearing was being conducted in Milan, has denied the accusations, which stem from a four-year investigation of the purchase of TV rights by his media empire.

Prosecutors in April formally asked that Mr Berlusconi be brought to trial.

They say that Berlusconi-owned broadcaster Mediaset purchased TV rights for US movies before 1999 through two offshore companies and falsely declared the purchase costs to Italian tax authorities to lower the tax bill.

The case is one of several investigations against the billionaire, who says he is the victim of prosecutors sympathetic to the left.