Senate becomes civil plaintiff in Berlusconi trial

IMG class=hide alt=”Senate becomes civil plaintiff in Berlusconi trial” src=”http://www.mineralfossil.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/wpid-db4477a04cdcc4b9ee1ba28c4d2b2f75.jpg” (ANSA) – Naples, February 26 – A Naples court on Wednesday granted a request from the Italian Senate to be admitted as a civil plaintiff in a criminal trial into allegations ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi bribed a lawmaker to change political sides. PBerlusconi is accused of paying ex-Senator Sergio De Gregorio a bribe of three million euros to leave the centre left and join the centre right, helping to undermine the 2006-2008 government of Romano Prodi./PPDe Gregorio has admitted not declaring to the tax authorities two millions euros he received and plea-bargained a 20-month sentence. Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party reacted with outrage earlier this month when Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso announced he would petition for the Upper House to be a civil plaintiff in a trial – which started February 11 – with some MPs calling for him to quit./PPThe centre right said the decision was a political move, not a legal one, against the three-time premier, who was ejected from the Senate last year after a definitive tax-fraud conviction in a separate case./PPGrasso, a member of Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), defended the decision, saying “anti-Berlusconi bias” had nothing to do with it./PP”The decision was made in order to give the Senate a voice in an affair we hope is untrue,” he said./PPHe added that parliamentary rules gave him the power to defend then Upper House’s “image and dignity when the Senate can be considered the damaged party”./PPBerlusconi called the decision another in a long line of alleged “coup d’etats’ against him which he says include the toppling off his last government in late 2011 and his recent expulsion from parliament The 77-year-old billionaire media magnate continues to lead FI, which withdrew from the left-right grand coalition government of then-premier Enrico Letta in November and joined the opposition, from outside parliament./PPProdi’s 2006-2008 government fell after losing the support of the Senate, leading to new elections that Berlusconi won./PPValter Lavitola, an associate of the ex-premier’s, is also on trial in Naples for allegedly acting as a go-between in the bribery./PPProsecutors have claimed Lavitola tried to bribe other Senators who have not been identified as well./PPAfter the tax-fraud conviction, Berlusconi’s first definitive one in 20 years of legal battles, the ex-premier is also appealing two convictions by courts of first instance – one for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his office to try to cover it up; and another for involvement in the publication of an illegal wiretap./PPThe ex-premier says he has been targeted by politically motivated magistrates since he entered politics in 1994./P
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