ITALIAN prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is to make a statement in parliament about a judicial panel's ruling that a British lawyer lied in court to protect him in exchange for £400,000.
A three-judge panel released a 400-page document laying out its reasons for finding David Mills guilty of corruption in February. Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
M
r Berlusconi's portion of the case was put on hold last autumn after the passage of a law granting the premier and other top officials immunity from prosecution. But opposition politicians said the judges' document suggested the premier had a role in the corruption as well.
"I will respond in parliament," Mr Berlusconi said. "On that occasion, I'll finally say what I have thought for some time about certain judges."
The judges ruled that Mills gave false testimony in two 1990s trials to shield Mr Berlusconi and his Fininvest holding company from charges relating to the purchase of US film rights, as well as to protect his own economic interests.
"The artificial, opaque and sophisticated way in which the money was transferred to Mills' accounts itself indicates the illegality of the whole operation," the judges wrote. They concluded the defence argument that the money came from a Naples shipping tycoon "completely lacked any factual basis, sense, reason and foundation".
The full article contains 241 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
