Berlusconi blackmailer’s sentence halved on appeal

(ANSA) – Naples, November 6 – Former newspaper editor Valter Lavitola on Wednesday saw his 2-year, 8-month sentence for trying to blackmail ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi halved to one year and four months on appeal. An associate of the media-magnate-turned politician and his alleged ‘special envoy’ for delicate foreign missions, former director of Avanti! newspaper Lavitola was sentenced in March to two years and eight months for attempted blackmail in exchange for hushing up payments to escorts at the ex-premier’s home.

Lavitola was indicted with Berlusconi last month for allegedly acting as a go-between in the case of Senator Sergio De Gregorio, who confessed to switching political sides after receiving two million euros from the centre-right leader during a centre-left government led by ex-European Commission president Romano Prodi, who beat Berlusconi in two general elections. Prosecutors have claimed Lavitola tried to bribe other Senators who have not been identified.

Lavitola is also reported to have had a key role in procuring a false document from a Caribbean island to keep ex-House speaker Gianfranco Fini, a key Berlusconi friend-turned-foe, embroiled in an alleged scandal over a house in Monte Carlo rented out to Fini’s brother.

He came back to Italy last year after a self-imposed exile in Panama, where he reportedly was involved in corruption with Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and his government over prison construction contracts.