Berlusconi TV fraud hearing starts in Italy court [View All]

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An Italian court on Friday began closed-door hearings to decide whether to indict Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and 13 others for alleged fraud at his family's broadcaster Mediaset. The hearing in Milan's courthouse, its halls packed with reporters and television cameramen, marked the latest in more than a decade of legal battles for Berlusconi and came a month after he was acquitted in a separate graft case.

If charged, the media tycoon-turned-politician could find himself on trial during what is likely to be a close-fought general election next April. None of the accused is present at Friday's hearing, which followed a four-year investigation by Milan prosecutors into claims of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering in a disputed television rights deal.

At the outset of the hearing, Berlusconi's lawyers handed Judge Fabio Paparella a letter from the prime minister, a legal source said without divulging its contents.
Berlusconi, corporate lawyer David Mills, who is the husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, and the others involved in the case have all denied wrongdoing.

The most serious crime alleged by prosecutors is money laundering, which carries a possible sentence of 4 to 12 years. For Berlusconi, the most serious accusation is tax fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 6 years. Under Italian law, public prosecutors investigate suspected crimes but it is up to a judge whether the accused are charged and must stand trial.

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