A Milan judge has ordered Silvio Berlusconi to be tried on corruption charges, damping the former Italian premier’s hopes of running soon for office again after being sidelined by a tax-fraud conviction.
The Italian news agency ANSA, reporting from Milan, said Judge Carlo Ottone De Marchi, after a hearing on an indictment request by prosecutors, set the trial to begin April 5 in that city.
Milan daily Corriere della Sera says the former three-time premier is accused of having shelled out some 10 million euros plus expensive gifts to some 20 young women who attended sexy parties at his Arcore villa near Milan. Prosecutors allege Berlusconi aimed to “buy” the women’s silence in various trials involving him.
Berlusconi’s lawyers have denied any wronging by their client. One of them, Federico Cecconi, told reporters Berlusconi faces “the first trial for the crime of generosity”.
Berlusconi, 80, heads the centre-right Forza Italia party, which is now in the opposition.
The latest indictment stems from an investigation into whether the payments constituted corruption in judicial proceedings or if the billionaire media mogul was legitimately helping the young women, who were invited to the so-called bunga-bunga parties at his residences.
