Request to indict Italian PM in tax fraud case

An Italian judge is conducting a closed-door hearing today on a request by prosecutors to indict Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on charges of false accounting, tax fraud and embezzlement in connection with the purchase of TV rights by his media empire, news reports said.

No decision was expected in the hearing, which was largely devoted to technicalities of the request, according to the ANSA and Apcom news agencies.