Andreotti faces Mafia charges

PALERMO magistrates have applied to send Giulio Andreotti, who was prime minister seven times, for trial on charges of conspiring with the Mafia.

The application now goes to a supervising magistrate who will question Mr Andreotti before deciding whether to allow the trial. The decision is expected before the end of June.

The magistrates did not disclose any details of their bulky indictment against Mr Andreotti, a former Christian Democrat and once one of the most powerful men in the country, except to say that they believed they had demolished a principal point of his defence. This was that he could not possibly have met the Mafia boss of all bosses, Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, or other senior Mafia figures during visits to Sicily - as various pentiti, or turncoats, have alleged - because he was under police guard 24 hours a day.

The magistrates, after checking police records and questioning policemen concerned, say they have found that he was not guarded as intensively as he claimed. In particular, there appears to have been a gap of four to five hours in Palermo on September 20, 1987, when he is believed to have met Riina. He greeted him, his former driver claimed, with a kiss, a Mafia sign of respect.

Mr Andreotti said the move was a 'demoralising and incredible affair' but added that he was glad formal charges had now been laid 'so we can show that they are unfounded'. He maintains that his governments took the toughest measures against the Mafia of any.

Mr Andreotti has been portrayed by various pentiti as a kind of high patron of the Mafia in Rome, doing it political favours in return for a large and secure vote for his party. He is also alleged to have used his immense influence with certain judges to have trials of Mafia bosses fixed.

Mr Andreotti, who is a life senator, is living quietly in Rome and was seen by millions on television attending the confidence debate on Silvio Berlusconi's new government last week. He voted against. The other disgraced former Italian prime minister, Bettino Craxi, is abroad, probably in Tunisia, pleading that he is too ill to return to Italy and hand in his passport, as ordered by the 'Clean Hands' anti-corruption magistrates in Milan.