Pavarotti on trial for tax evasion

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti was due to go on trial in Italy today on tax evasion charges.

The heavyweight star was not expected to appear in court today but has said he will give evidence in his defence.

Bologna prosecutor Eleonora De Marco alleges that Pavarotti presented false tax reports in the years 1989-1995 in Modena, his home city and the place where he holds his annual concerts.

Pavarotti has long claimed that his official residence is the tax haven of Monaco, rather than Modena.

Ending a long administrative battle over taxes, Pavarotti last summer agreed to pay more than £7.7 million to Italy’s finance ministry in a dispute over the same tax years.