Berlusconi fights corruption charges
Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi told a court trying him on corruption charges today that he had participated in the contested business deal only to serve the best interests of his nation.
The billionaire business mogul is accused of bribing judges in Rome to sway in his favour a ruling on the sale of former state-controlled food company SME in the 1980s. The premier said then-Premier Bettino Craxi asked him to get involved because the arranged sale-price of the company was too low.
“I had no direct interest and Craxi begged me to intervene because he believed the operation damaged the state,” the premier told a packed Milan courtroom.
Craxi was among those who fell from power amid massive corruption probes a decade ago.
Berlusconi, a media baron who is Italy’s richest man, has been involved in several legal cases related to his business fortune. His previous convictions have been reversed on appeal or annulled because of the statute of limitations.
Berlusconi has always denied any wrongdoing and portrayed himself as the victim of a political vendetta carried out by left-leaning prosecutors.
Among his co-defendants in the SME case is his former defence minister, Cesare Previti, who was convicted in a similar bribery case last week and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment, which he is appealing.
The premier’s allies have criticised European Commission President Romano Prodi for his role in the SME deal. They say Prodi, then the chief of the state-controlled holding company IRI that was selling off SME, had agreed to a price that was far too low.
Prodi said he was not worried about the accusations. “It’s not a trial against me,” he said.
