CORRIERE DELLA SERA
10 marzo 2006
La scelta della procura di Milano
Mediaset: chiesto il processo per il premier
Presentata la richiesta di rinvio a giudizio per concorso in corruzione in atti giudiziari anche per l'avvocato Mills
L'avvocato inglese David Mills con la moglie Tessa Jowell (Ap)
MILANO - La procura di Milano ha presentato la richiesta di rinvio a giudizio per concorso in corruzione in atti giudiziari nei confronti del presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi e dell'avvocato inglese David Mills, nell'ambito di uno stralcio del procedimento sui diritti tv Mediaset.
A PROCESSO - La richiesta, che arriva a un mese dalle elezioni politiche ed è destinata a riaccendere le polemiche su giustizia e politica, è stata inviata all'ufficio del giudice delle indagini preliminari. Ieri, per fax, i magistrati milanesi avevano annunciato ai difensori del premier che non avrebbero accolto le loro richieste di indagini supplettive perché, allo stato degli atti, «superflue». Un annuncio che aveva fatto prevedere quella che è stata poi, oggi, la decisione della procura.
Il gup, che sarà Fabio Paparella, dovrà quindi fissare un'udienza preliminare che potrebbe essere già a maggio al termine della quale deciderà se accogliere le richieste dei pm o prosciogliere gli imputati.
IL RUOLO DI MILLS - L'inchiesta, conclusa dai pm Fabio De Pasquale e Alfredo Robledo, sostiene che il presidente del Consiglio nel 1999 mise a disposizione 600.000 dollari all'avvocato Mills - marito del ministro della Cultura britannico Tessa Jowell e descritto come l'ideatore dell'architettura delle società del comparto estero del gruppo Fininvest - come ricompensa per non aver rivelato in due processi, in qualità di testimone, le informazioni in suo possesso sulle società estere, che la procura ritiene la «tesoreria occulta» del gruppo.
LA DIFESA - Sia Berlusconi sia Mills hanno respinto le accuse. Berlusconi in una trasmissione tv lunedì sera ha definito l'inchiesta «una storia inventata che dimostra che ci sono giudici organici alla sinistra che inventano storie in periodo di elezioni».
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Le reazioni alla richiesta di rinvio a giudizio del premier
Berlusconi a processo, Forza Italia insorge
Bonaiuti: «Come nel '94 ecco la dichiarazione di voto dei giudici attraverso un teorema falso, indegno e impossibile»
ROMA - E' immediata la reazione di Forza Italia alla richiesta della procura di Milano di rinviare a giudizio il premier Berlusconi. «Il tandem Corriere della Sera-Procura di Milano - attacca il portavoce del premier Paolo Bonaiuti - colpisce ancora come nel '94. Dopo la dichiarazione di voto del Corriere ecco, puntuale con le elezioni, la dichiarazione di voto della Procura di Milano attraverso un teorema falso, indegno e impossibile».
Stessi accenti da Jole Santelli, sottosegretario alla Giustizia: «Non c'era alcun dubbio sulla partecipazione della Procura di Milano alla campagna elettorale, stavolta rinviando a giudizio Silvio Berlusconi e l'avvocato inglese David Mills. Guarda caso - sottolinea la Santelli - la richiesta della Procura arriva a un mese dal voto politico. Ma dodici anni di storia italiana ci hanno ormai abituato a questo anomalo competitore».
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L’inchiesta
IL FASCICOLO La Procura di Milano ha chiuso l’inchiesta che riguarda Silvio Berlusconi e David Mills, uno stralcio di quella sui diritti televisivi di Mediaset partita nel 2001
LE ACCUSE
L’ipotesi di reato è corruzione in atti giudiziari. Mills, creatore del sistema off-shore estero di Fininvest, è accusato di aver ricevuto da Berlusconi 600 mila dollari in cambio di una testimonianza non sfavorevole durante due processi al Cavaliere
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La scelta della Procura: processo per Berlusconi
I pm alla difesa: no ad un rinvio per trovare nuove prove «Mills mascherò i soldi di Berlusconi col conto di un cliente»
MILANO — «Rilevato che gli indagati Mills e Berlusconi non hanno chiesto di essere interrogati, rilevato che non sono state presentate memorie né prodotte indagini difensive, le istanze presentate il 7 marzo dagli imputati Mills e Berlusconi sono respinte». Il fax che lo comunica agli avvocati Federico Cecconi e Niccolò Ghedini segnala che, decorsi i 20 giorni di tempo previsti dal codice a partire dall'avviso il 16 febbraio di conclusione delle indagini e deposito degli atti, per la Procura il tempo è davvero scaduto. E se questo rigetto palesa senza dubbi l'intenzione dei pm di chiedere il rinvio a giudizio del premier per corruzione in atti giudiziari del testimone David Mills nel 1997 con 600 mila dollari (posti in relazione nel 2004 da una lettera dello stesso Mills con le sue deposizioni nel 1997 e 1998 in due processi al Cavaliere), la successiva riunione-fiume nel pomeriggio di ieri con il procuratore Manlio Minale sembra profilare imminente la richiesta di processo.
LA DIFESA — Le istanze istruttorie di Mills e Berlusconi si incentravano sulla ritrattazione di Mills il 7 novembre 2004 (i 600 mila dollari come somma affidatagli in custodia dal cliente Diego Attanasio) rispetto al proprio interrogatorio del 18 luglio 2004 e alla lettera ai commercialisti del 2 febbraio 2004 (i 600 mila dollari come «regalo» di Berlusconi tramite lo scomparso manager Fininvest Carlo Bernasconi per lo slalom del teste Mills nei processi). Berlusconi e Mills avevano perciò chiesto ai pm un supplemento di indagini: una rogatoria alle Bahamas (dove su un conto di un trust di Attanasio arrivarono 2 milioni di dollari comprensivi dei 600 mila che Mills nella lettera collegherà poi alle sue deposizioni) e l'esame dei conti personali di Bernasconi. Ma il pm Fabio De Pasquale obietta che «dalle indagini effettuate è risultato che strutture di trust aventi come beneficiario Attanasio o altri clienti di Mills (Marcucci e Briatore) sono state usate, senza il consenso degli aventi diritto, per mascherare la riconducibilità a Mills delle somme di denaro ricevute da Berlusconi». Per questo, anche «sulla base di documenti sequestrati nella perquisizione a carico di Mills», al pm «appare ragionevole ritenere che il passaggio dei 2 milioni di dollari alle Bahamas non sia altro che il primo degli innumerevoli travestimenti del denaro ricevuto da Mills a titolo corruttivo». I soldi a Mills, infatti, arrivano sicuramente dal trust bahamense del suo cliente Attanasio — che però il giorno del bonifico non poteva disporlo essendo in carcere a Salerno — che in passato aveva rilasciato a Mills fogli in bianco prefirmati per la gestione dei suoi affari, e che ha smentito Mills (al pari di Marcucci e Briatore) su alcune operazioni che ha scoperto essere state effettuate a sua insaputa.
DIVERGENZE — E qui le letture di accusa e difesa divergono. Per i pm, la vera rogatoria sarà quella successiva, che domanderà alle Bahamas di capire non chi abbia mandato i soldi a Mills (Mills stesso dietro l'apparenza di Attanasio), ma chi abbia mandato la provvista corruttiva al conto di Attanasio gestito in realtà da Mills. La difesa, invece, valorizza la mancanza di prova documentale che i soldi arrivassero da Berlusconi, additando proprio l'affermazione della Procura secondo la quale «per accertare l'effettiva provenienza dei fondi risulteranno prevedibilmente necessarie ulteriori ricerche». No anche alle richieste di rinvio per copie di «atti mancanti»: o perché invece «già in possesso dei difensori, essendo Mills e Berlusconi imputati anche nel procedimento» degli atti richiesti, o perché già depositati (pur se su carta anziché cd), o perché di asserito «modesto rilievo processuale» in alcuni supplementi documentali «comunque trasmessi alle difesa appena ricevuti».
Luigi Ferrarella, Giuseppe Guastella
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L’AVVOCATO GHEDINI
«È indecente, vogliono condizionare il voto»
Avvocato Niccolò Ghedini, 6 pagine di richieste e 15 di documenti non tradotti. Non vi hanno dato nulla. Non è un buon risultato... «È una cosa davvero indecente. Solo chi è in malafede può pensare che il nostro obiettivo era di prendere tempo, mentre era necessario fare una serie di approfondimenti e di nuove indagini. Almeno avrebbero dovuto fare la rogatoria nelle Bahamas, perché se i soldi partono da lì è indispensabile accertarne tutto il percorso, a cominciare da dove arrivavano. Altrimenti, come facciamo il processo? Io ci ho provato come difensore a fare indagini, ma non posso fare una rogatoria. Non hanno accolto nulla, vuol dire che vogliono chiedere il rinvio a giudizio comunque».
Non c’era solo la rogatoria nelle vostre istanze .
«C’erano altre richieste di buonsenso. Ad esempio, volevamo che gli atti del processo di Salerno (quello che ha riguardato l’imprenditore Attanasio, ndr ) fossero inseriti tra quelli di questa indagine. Alla procura sarebbe bastato fare un fax al collega di Salerno per ottenere quegli atti in un giorno. È incredibile, non l’hanno voluto fare».
Quindi le ritiene ci sia una volontà dei magistrati diretta contro di voi?
«Questo non è più un processo, è qualcosa di diverso da quello che dice la legge. Faccio notare, ad esempio, che il codice prevede che i pm indaghino anche a favore dell’indagato. Dalla procura di Milano mi aspetto il trattamento che ci hanno riservato, siamo abituati, solo che come avvocato non smetto mai di indignarmi. Come politico, invece, devo dire che, per quanto sia una cosa che non dovrebbe avere alcun collegamento con la politica, voler chiedere il rinvio a giudizio del presidente del Consiglio sotto campagna elettorale e senza fare le indagini richieste, mi sembra davvero straordinario».
Sta dicendo che la procura fa politica?
«Depositano gli atti in piena campagna elettorale. Chiediamo indagini e non le vogliono fare. Non ho altra lettura che quella di voler interferire con la campagna elettorale in corso».
.
G. Gua
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LA MOGLIE DELL’AVVOCATO INGLESE
Blair difende la Jowell: no a organismi di inchiesta
LONDRA - Tony Blair rispedisce al mittente la richiesta per un organo indipendente per indagare sulla condotta dei ministri del suo governo. La richiesta è stata fatta dal controllore per gli Standards Pubblici Alistair Graham, nel suo rapporto annuale. Graham ha anche detto di non capire perché Blair non abbia già cambiato le regole, specie dopo le controversie attorno il caso Jowell (nella foto, il ministro e moglie di Mills, insieme a Lord Falconer a Downing Street) . Il premier britannico aveva confermato la propria fiducia alla Jowell la scorsa settimana, dopo un’inchiesta fatta dal segretario di Gabinetto Gus O’Donnell, per verificare se il ministro della Cultura avesse infranto il codice di condotta ministeriale. Tessa Jowell resta però ancora nell’occhio del ciclone, pur avendo il supporto di Blair. Il partito conservatore continua a chiedere ulteriori investigazioni. Secondo Graham il sistema vigente di regole è dannoso per la pubblica fiducia ed è quindi necessario cambiare.
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LA REPUBBLICA
10 marzo 2006
Diritti televisivi, l'accusa è di corruzione in atti giudiziari
Bonaiuti: "Tandem Corsera procura colpisce come nel '94"
Mediaset, pm chiedono il processo per Berlusconi e l'avvocato Mills
La richiesta si riferisce all'inchiesta su presunte irregolarità
nella compravendita di diritti televisivi da parte di Mediaset
Il presidente del Consiglio Berlusconi
MILANO - La procura di Milano ha chiesto il rinvio a giudizio di Silvio Berlusconi e dell'avvocato David Mills con l'accusa di corruzione in atti giudiziari, nell'ambito di uno stralcio dell'inchiesta su presunte irregolarità nella compravendita di diritti televisivi da parte di Mediaset. L'inchiesta è incentrata su 600mila dollari che l'avvocato inglese David Mills, marito di Tessa Jowell, ministro per gli Spettacoli del governo di Tony Blair, avrebbe ricevuto per fare, secondo l'accusa, false dichiarazioni nell'ambito di due datati processi milanesi: quello per le tangenti alla guardia di finanza e quello per la vicenda All Iberian. A quanto si è saputo, non è stato chiesto il rinvio a giudizio del legale per falsa testimonianza in quanto il reato è da considerarsi prescritto.
Durissima la reazione del portavoce del premier Paolo Bonaiuti: "Il tandem Corsera procura di Milano colpisce come nel '94 (quando arrivò l'avviso di garanzia a Berlusconi durante il vertice Onu a Napoli). Dopo la dichiarazione di voto del Corriere ecco, puntuale con le elezioni, la dichiarazione di voto della Procura di Milano attraverso un teorema falso, indegno e impossibile".
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www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2077802,00.html
Times Online
March 09, 2006
Berlusconi to contest election under corruption cloud
By Simon Freeman and agencies
Silvio Berlusconi could enter the Italian general election facing corruption charges after prosecutors dismissed calls to delay a case which has also threatened the career of a UK Cabinet minister.
Lawyers leading the prosecution against the Italian Prime Minister and David Mills, the husband of Tessa Jowell, Tony Blair's Culture Secretary, have rejected an application by the defence for extra time for questioning and investigation.
Fabio De Pasquale and Alfredo Robledo, the senior prosecutors in Milan, will hand over their 15,000-page dossier of allegations to an investigating judge within the next 24 hours.
The prosecutors claim that Mr Mills - who separated from his wife at the weekend - was paid a bribe by the Italian leader to give "false testimony" in corruption trials in the 1990s. Mr Mills and Signor Berlusconi both deny this.
The judge now has 30 days in which to decide whether to lay charges and set the trial date.
Signor Berlusconi, who faces the voters' verdict on his prime ministership on April 9-10, has accused the prosecutors of seeking to influence the election, something that they deny. The prosecutors hope the judge will set a preliminary hearing for May, allowing the trial proper to get under way in June
Richard Owen, Rome Correspondent of The Times, explained that today's decision marked the formal beginning of the legal process.
"The prosecutors today ruled that the defence requests for further interrogation and inquiry were not relevant to the case. They will now spend around 24 hours finalising their dossier before passing it on to the judge.
"The judge will then spent up to a week examining the case and deciding whether there is a case to answer. If so, he will set a date for a preliminary trial, probably in May.
"At that hearing, which neither of the defendants would be required to attend, the charges would be read out and there would be technical arguments to clear the way for a trial proper later in the summer.
"The key question is whether the judge rules that there is a case to answer: if so, it means that Signor Berlusconi will enter the elections with more allegations of corruption hanging over him."
The general election on April 9-10 pits Signor Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition against the centre-left alliance led by Romano Prodi, a former president of the European Commission.
Signor Prodi leads by around 5 percentage points according to all recently published opinion polls but both sides have been criticised for being vague and failing to explain how plans for tax cuts and extra spending would be financed.
Signor Berlusconi has been found guilty of corruption on several occasions but has either been acquitted on appeal or has escaped conviction because time has run out under the statute of limitations.
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www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2078843,00.html
The Times
March 10, 2006
Judge is ready to charge Mills and Berlusconi
From Richard Owen in Rome
The Culture Secretary's estranged husband faces indictments on bribery and perjury charges
DAVID MILLS, Tessa Jowell’s estranged husband, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, face indictments on bribery and perjury charges after prosecutors in Milan brushed aside attempts by defence lawyers to delay legal proceedings yesterday.
The prosecutors are expected today to ask Fabio Paparella, the judge who will preside over a preliminary hearing, to lay charges. He will then issue indictments and set a trial date. Court sources said that Signor Berlusconi and Mr Mills could be charged next week, after the judge had studied the 15,000-page prosecution dossier.
The refusal to grant a delay means that Signor Berlusconi faces the embarrassment of corruption charges on the eve of the Italian election on April 9-10. This week the Italian leader again accused “left-wing” magistrates of “inventing stories during an election period”.
Defence lawyers for Mr Mills and Signor Berlusconi had asked the Milan prosecutors to postpone the trial for two months to allow time for further inquiries into Mr Mills’s claim that a $600,000 (£345,000) “gift” at the heart of the case came not from Signor Berlusconi but from Diego Attanasio, a Neapolitan shipowner.
The prosecutors, however, said that the inquiries requested by the defence were “not relevant”. They said that the points raised were either already included in the investigation or in “investigations still under way”.
Federico Cecconi, Mr Mills’s lawyer, protested against the ruling. He said: “We run the risk of going to trial without the full and proper picture being established.” The defence requests were “not irrelevant but vital to the defence case”.
He said that he had spoken to Mr Mills, who was disappointed. Mr Mills had hoped that the prosecution would accede to the requests for a delay but would continue to fight in the courts “to prove his innocence”. Both Signor Berlusconi and Mr Mills deny the charges.
Signor Cecconi and Niccolo Ghedini, Signor Berlusconi’s lawyer, had asked for Mr Mills and Signor Attanasio to be interviewed again. They had also asked for further inquiries to be made into Mr Mills’s and Signor Attanasio’s banking arrangements in the Bahamas and Switzerland to prove that Mr Mills’s version of events was correct.
Piersilvio Cipolloti, Signor Ghedini’s assistant, said that the rejection of these requests was “what we expected from the Milan magistrates, given their background”.
Mr Mills said in a letter to his accountant, Bob Drennan, in February 2004, and again in testimony to the prosecutors in July 2004, that the now celebrated “gift” had come from Signor Berlusconi via Carlo Bernasconi, a cousin of the Italian leader and a senior executive in his Fininvest company, who died in 2001. He said that Signor Berlusconi had “put a sum of money my way” as thanks for saving him from a “sea of troubles” by giving testimony on his behalf in 1990s corruption trials.
In November 2004, however, Mr Mills withdrew this, describing his confession as an “imaginary scenario”. Instead, he said, the money had come from an account set up by him for Signor Attanasio with the Bahamas branch of the bank Mees Pierson
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www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2079581,00.html
Times Online
March 10, 2006
Tessa Jowell, David Mills and Silvio Berlusconi have been drawn together by a corruption case
Charges laid against Mills and Berlusconi
By Simon Freeman and Richard Owen
Prosecutors in Italy today laid corruption charges against Silvio Berlusconi and David Mills, the husband of a British Cabinet minister, firing the starting gun on a case which threatens to taint the governments of both countries.
The Italian Prime Minister has been accused of paying Mr Mills, a tax-avoidance specialist, a £344,000 bribe for giving "helpful" testimony in two court cases in the 1990s. Both Signor Berlusconi and Mr Mills deny the charges, which carry a maximum eight-year prison sentence.
Lawyers in Milan today handed their 15,000-page dossier to Fabio Paparella, the judge who will preside over a preliminary hearing to determine whether the case should go to full trial.
Court sources have told The Times that Signor Berlusconi and Mr Mills, who separated from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell amid escalating controversy last week, could be charged formally as soon as next week. The initial hearing could start in May.
The step means that Signor Berlusconi faces the embarrassment of corruption charges on the eve of the Italian election on April 9-10.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, who has always maintained that the case is politically motivated, responded: "Here it comes, in time for the elections, the voting statement of the Milan prosecutors’ office."
Defence lawyers for Mr Mills and Signor Berlusconi had asked the Milan prosecutors to postpone the trial for two months to allow time for further inquiries into Mr Mills’s claim that a $600,000 (£345,000) "gift" at the heart of the bribery and perjury case came not from Signor Berlusconi but from Diego Attanasio, a Neapolitan ship owner.
The request was denied last night by prosecutors keenly aware that the ten-year deadline for prosecutions, known as the statute of limitations, will expire at the end of next year.
The charges against Mr Mills stem from a letter to his accountant, written in February 2004, in which he said that the now notorious "gift" had come from Signor Berlusconi via Carlo Bernasconi, a cousin of the Italian leader and a senior executive in his Fininvest company, who died in 2001.
He said that Signor Berlusconi had "put a sum of money my way" as thanks for saving him from a "sea of troubles" in court. In November 2004, however, Mr Mills withdrew the statement and described the confession as an "imaginary scenario".
Ms Jowell was cleared last week of breaching the code of conduct for ministers after she said she was not aware of the £344,000 payment made to her husband of 27 years.
On Wednesday she was also cleared of any wrongdoing in failing to declare a shareholding in a brewery chain traded through a company owned by Mr Mills at a time when she was a health minister.
Tony Blair's spokesman today said that the allegations against his loyal Cabinet minister had been "dealt with".
He said: "We have to separate out two things: the issues surrounding Tessa Jowell which have been dealt with and the Italian case which we will not comment on, nor should we comment on, any more than we would comment on a case in this country."
Signor Berlusconi has been tried on at least seven occasions for corruption. He was found guilty four times, but verdicts have been overturned on appeal or the statute of limitations has applied.
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www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,1728290,00.html
Prosecutors call for Mills and Berlusconi to face trial
Staff and agencies
Friday March 10, 2006
Italian prosecutors are seeking the indictment of the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and David Mills on charges of corruption, it was revealed today.
Mr Berlusconi and Mr Mills - the estranged husband of the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell - could face trial in Italy following the request, made to an Italian judge.
The development comes only weeks before Italian elections are due to take place.
It is alleged Mr Berlusconi ordered the payment of around £344,000 to Mr Mills in 1997 in exchange for false testimony by the lawyer in two trials of the Italian prime minister.
Both men deny the allegations, and a spokesman for Mr Berlusconi today said the corruption allegations were "false theories".
Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale said Mr Mills was accused of giving false testimony in two hearings, held in 1997 and 1998.
According to reports in Italy, the lawyer allegedly failed to mention a phone call with Mr Berlusconi in 1995 in which the two discussed alleged illicit payments from the Italian prime minister to the former premier Bettino Craxi.
He is also accused of failing to tell a court that two offshore companies involved in buying US film rights were linked to Mr Berlusconi.
The questions surrounding Mr Mills's testimony stem from a separate case in which he, Mr Berlusconi and 12 other people are accused of tax fraud and embezzlement over the purchase of US movie rights by Mediaset, Mr Berlusconi's media firm. All the defendants deny the charges.
Mr Mills, 60, and Ms Jowell announced their separation last week, saying their marriage had been put under "strain" by the controversy.
The culture secretary was cleared of breaching the ministers' code of conduct by arguing that her husband did not tell her about the £344,000 gift.
She was said to have been left angry and embarrassed by the bribery allegations.
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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/10/umills.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/03/10/ixportal...
Prosecutors request Jowell's husband stand trial
(Filed: 10/03/2006)
Prosecutors in Milan have requested that Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and David Mills, the British lawyer and Tessa Jowell's husband, face trial on corruption charges.
Miss Jowell has faced scrutiny over her husband's business dealings with Mr Berlusconi
The move follows a long-running inquiry into claims that Mr Berlusconi ordered the payment of at least £345,000 to Mr Mills, the estranged husband of the Culture Secretary, in 1997.
The alleged bribe was said to be in return for Mr Mills giving false evidence in two trials involving Mr Berlusconi. Both men deny the charges.
Prosecutors are rushing to complete the investigation and bring the case to trial after the Italian Parliament passed a reform, backed by Mr Berlusconi's government, which reduced the statute of limitations on the charges.
Once the prosecutors have requested an indictment, it is left to a judge to decide whether Mr Mills and Mr Berlusconi should face trial.
Prosecutors said there was no indication of when a decision on the indictments would come. Such decisions have been known to take weeks.
One Italian legal expert said it was unlikely the case would go to trial before the deadline of 2008.
"This is a case that is going nowhere, even if they are guilty as hell - which I don't believe them to be," Giovanni di Stefano, a Rome-based lawyer, said.
"They can never finish this process by 2008. It is impossible."
Supporters of Mr Berlusconi have accused the prosecutors in Milan of being politically motivated. The Italian premier faces a general election on April 9.
The case has also caused political problems for Mr Mills's wife.
Miss Jowell has been cleared of any wrong-doing in connection with her husband's financial affairs, but Tory MPs have sought to keep up the pressure by raising questions about other financial dealings by Mr Mills.
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www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=auwXYJUmztRY&...
Berlusconi, Mills Targeted for Corruption Indictment (Update3)
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is being targeted for indictment for corruption less than a month before the national election.
Milan prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Alfredo Robledo asked judge Fabio Papparella to indict the premier and lawyer David Mills, who allegedly received money for testifying in favor of Berlusconi. Mills is married to U.K. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. Papparella hasn't yet scheduled the first hearing, which probably won't come before the April 9 national election, De Pasquale said.
The legal action comes as Berlusconi tries to reduce rival Romano Prodi's lead in opinion polls. Mills received $600,000 as ''recognition'' for having given testimony favorable to Berlusconi, Mills said in a July 19, 2004, deposition obtained by Bloomberg News. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said March 2 Jowell didn't breach her ethical obligations and didn't have to resign. She announced her separation from Mills this month.
Both Berlusconi and Mills deny any wrongdoing.
''I'm indignant,'' Niccolo Ghedini, Berlusconi's lawyer, said in a telephone interview today. ''Berlusconi is not at all involved in this.'' Milan prosecutors timed the request for the indictment ''so it would come out during the campaign,'' Ghedini said.
Mediaset
Prodi's coalition leads Berlusconi's by 52.2 percent to 47.5 percent in a survey by polling company IPR Marketing Group published yesterday. Prodi has led by a similar margin in the more than 30 polls published since the start of the year.
Berlusconi has been dogged by corruption charges since entering politics in 1994. De Pasquale and Robledo asked on April 26 last year that Berlusconi be indicted for tax fraud, false accounting and the embezzlement of 280 million euros ($333 million) from his television company Mediaset SpA. The next hearing on that case is scheduled for April 11, a day after the national vote ends.
Milan judges acquitted Berlusconi on Dec. 10, 2004 of charges that he bribed judges, after the court shortened the statute of limitations.
Berlusconi's majority in parliament passed a reducing the statute of limitations for most first-time offenders on Nov. 29 of last year. That change prompted the prosecutors to speed up the current investigation, prompting Berlusconi's lawyer Ghedini to offer to freeze the statute of limitations so that the probe could continue beyond election day.
Bad Publicity
''We offered to suspend the statute of limitations and they refused so that this would come out during the election campaign,'' Ghedini said. ''Now 50 million voters will see on TV and in the newspapers that Berlusconi is investigated for corruption. It's not good publicity'' in an election campaign, Ghedini said.
The case has also been a political issue in the U.K., because Mills's wife, Jowell, is a member of Blair's government. Blair came to office in 1997 pledging ''whiter than white'' ethical conduct after a series of scandals contributed to the defeat of Conservative Prime Minister John Major's government.
Mills, who helped Berlusconi arrange some of his financial holdings, is accused of having sought to deflect the charges away from Berlusconi and later accepting a $600,000 payment for that. The money didn't come from Berlusconi, said his lawyer Ghedini, and prosecutors refused to prolong their investigation to verify that ''Berlusconi wasn't involved,'' he said.
'Told no Lies'
''I told no lies, but I turned some very tricky corners,'' Mills wrote in a Feb. 2, 2004, letter obtained by prosecutors. Mills's testimony ''had kept Mr. B out of a great deal of trouble that I would have landed him in if I had said all I knew,'' the letter reads. Mills called the money ''a gift'' in the letter.
Mills's Italian lawyer, Federico Cecconi, was not immediately available for comment. His U.K. lawyer, David Kirk, of Simons Muirhead & Burton in London did not immediately return phone calls.
Mills denied he took the money from Berlusconi in a statement through his U.K. solicitor this month. Jowell announced March 4 that she and Mills separated after he failed to tell her about the payment.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Steve Scherer in Rome at scherer@bloomberg.net.
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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/10/ujowelltime.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/03/10/ixportal...
Jowellgate timeline
(Filed: 10/03/2006)
Prosecutors request Jowell's husband stand trial
Sunday February 26: The Tories demand an inquiry into Miss Jowell's financial status after the Sunday Times reports that she signed a mortgage document allowing her husband to bring an alleged bribe from Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi into Britain.
Jowell: claims keep returning
Monday February 27: Tony Blair distances himself from Miss Jowell and declines to answer questions on the situation.
Tuesday February 28: It is revealed that Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, is investigating Miss Jowell's finances.
Wednesday March 1: The Home Office reject claims that it blocked moves by Italian prosecutors to extradite David Mills.
Thursday March 2: Sir Gus' investigation completed, Tony Blair clears Miss Jowell of breaching the Ministerial Code and accepts that she did not know about the £350,000 "gift" to her husband which she should have declared.
Friday March 3: Further allegations about the Culture Secretary's financial affairs emerge when it's reported that she signed papers for a second £250,000 loan secured on her home. Tories demand a statement.
Saturday March 4: Mr Mills announces he is to separate from his wife. His solicitor says: "They hope that over time their relationship can be restored, but, given the current circumstances, they have agreed a period of separation."
Sunday March 5: A report in The Observer claims that Mr Mills made £67,000 profit on shares he bought in the Old Monk Company pub chain in 1998 at a time when Miss Jowell was a public health minister. Tory MPs say they will press for answers over whether she broke ministerial and parliamentary rules by failing to declare details of her husband's financial dealings.
Monday March 6: Downing Street and later the Prime Minister declare their support for the Culture Secretary, Mr Blair saying: "I believe she does an excellent job and should be allowed to get on doing it." Miss Jowell meets the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, who announces that she did not need to declare any further information at present. She says she had "never heard of this company (Old Monk) or the transactions until this weekend", adding: "I understand the shares were never owned by my husband."
Tuesday March 7: Documents obtained by Sky News are said to prove that David Mills was the "beneficial owner" of the company that owned the shares in Old Monk.
Wednesday March 8: The parliamentary standards watchdog clears Miss Jowell of failing to declare a controversial shareholding involving her estranged husband. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards says under Commons rules, Miss Jowell is not required to declare the shares in the Old Monk Company brewers.
Thursday March 9: Sir Gus O'Donnell says he sees no reason to reopen his inquiry into her financial affairs.
Friday March 10: Milan prosecutors demand that David Milla face trial on corruption charges alongside Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister. The Cabinet Secretary is again urged to investigate claims that Miss Jowell broke ministerial rules.