Berlusconi vow to keep corruption out of parliament

The CABINET of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi proposed legislation yesterday to keep politicians out of parliament if convicted of embezzlement, bribery or other forms of corruption, after scandals hit a top aide and politicians in his party.

Berlusconi, who himself is on trial in a bribery case and who denies wrong doing, recently promised the crackdown.

One of his closest associates, the chief of the nation’s disaster relief agency, has come under investigation in a probe of public contracts for construction before last year’s Group of Eight summit in Italy.