Berlusconi suffers setback in Mediaset trial, ally cleared

[Judi Lynn]

Berlusconi suffers setback in Mediaset trial, ally cleared
Dec 1, 2006, 13:13 GMT

Milan - Italian opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi suffered a judicial setback Friday after a court rejected his demand for a new judge in a trial in Milan in which he faces charges of tax fraud, embezzlement and false accounting.

Defence lawyers had argued that the trial could not continue because the court's president, Edoardo D'Avossa, had already expressed himself in three previous verdicts involving Berlusconi's Fininvest and Mediaset media companies. But an appeals court in Milan rejected his claim.

The trial's second hearing was underway in Milan on Friday after being postponed because of Berlusconi's recent health problems.

Berlusconi, who underwent heart checks in a Milan hospital after collapsing during a political rally over the weekend, did not attend the hearing.
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Prosecutors allege that Berlusconi, as Mediaset's majority shareholder, siphoned off a total of 280 million euros (360 million dollars) from the firm's coffers by using fictitious companies to purchase US television and movie rights and then re-sell them to Mediaset at inflated prices.
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http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1228330.php/Berlusconi_suffers_setback_in_Mediaset_trial_ally_cleared



Berlusconi friend, Cesare Previti