Berlusconi ordered to stand trial for bribery

An Italian judge has ordered Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial for allegedly bribing a senator to join his party’s ranks, in the latest legal woe for the former prime minister.

Berlusconi was formally charged along with his former associate, Valter Lavitola, who is accused of acting as an intermediary in the €3m bribe, lawyers said.

The senator himself, Sergio De Gregorio, helped investigators and was granted a 20-month sentence under a plea bargain by the hearing in Naples.

The trial is due to start on Feb 11, 2014.

“I urge Silvio Berlusconi to leave the political scene, which would free Italy from a lot of dirt,” De Gregorio told news channel SkyTG24.

Lavitola told the hearing that even if he had handled the money as alleged “there is no proof that I could have known that it was money for a bribe, I would have been simply a conduit”.

But De Gregorio said: “He was the intermediary for Berlusconi in bringing me the money.”

Lavitola was first placed under investigation in 2011 and fled the country for South America.

He returned after eight months on the run in Apr 2012 and was arrested at the airport.

The De Gregorio case goes back to elections in 2006 which were won by a centre-left coalition led by Romano Prodi by just a handful of votes.

A few months later, De Gregorio crossed the aisle and joined the Berlusconi opposition in a move that helped bring down Prodi in 2008. The next elections were won handily by Berlusconi.

“I now believe I behaved in an absolutely reprehensible way and was aiming to bring down the Prodi government as part of a sort of holy war being waged by Berlusconi,” De Gregorio said.

“I have said sorry like no one does in Italy.”

Berlusconi has often been accused by opponents of buying votes, but this is the first time he has officially been charged of corrupting a politician.