Judges confront silent Berlusconi over links to Mafia

Sicilian judges travelled to Rome and confronted Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, yesterday but he refused to answer questions on alleged Mafia connections.

The judges are presiding over the trial of a former close colleague of Mr Berlusconi who is accused of laundering Mafia money. They have been trying to question the Prime Minister for months. Two previous meetings were cancelled by Mr Berlusconi. Prosecutors believe huge sums of money that poured into Fininvest, Mr Berlusconi's media company, in the late 1970s came from the Mafia. They claim that Marcello Dell'Ultri, a Sicilian, is the link. He has been on trial on charges of aiding and abetting the Mafia since 1997.

The judges wanted to ask Mr Berlusconi to reveal the source of the money.

Yesterday he told them he "was availing himself of the power to say nothing". When Mr Dell'Ultri was put on trial in 1997, Fininvest said in a statement: "Any attempt to link the group to the Mafia is absurd."

Mr Berlusconi is Italy's richest citizen, with a media empire worth billions. But he has been dogged by grave criminal allegations for years, including money laundering, tax evasion, associating with the Mafia, complicity in murder and the bribing of politicians, judges and the Ministry of Finance police.

He has been found guilty three times on corruption charges, but the convictions have either been extinguished by the passage of time or quashed on appeal. Many charges are still pending.

One of his oldest friends, Fedele Confalonieri, chairman of his television network, Mediaset, said in his defence: "Italy is not a normal country. Even an anomaly like Mr Berlusconi must be understood in the context of the country. He has done nothing worse than any businessman in Italy."

The case against Mr Dell' Ultri goes to the heart of the doubts about Mr Berlusconi. An investigation into his fortune by The Economist last year concluded that "the ultimate source of the money [used to finance Fininvest] ... cannot be traced ... the possibility of money laundering ... cannot be ruled out."

At Mr Dell'Ultri's trial earlier this year, a prominent anti-Mafia investigator said the source of the funds could not be traced. Mr Dell'Ultri started working for Fininvest in 1974. He was chief executive of the advertising wing of the empire, which generated the cash.

According to a lawyer representing the province of Palermo, a civil party in the case, "the prosecution has shown strong evidence of Mr Dell'Ultri's very close links with the Mafia".

Mr Berlusconi continues to outflank the judiciary. Monday saw the first implementation of a law that allows trials to be shifted to another judicial region if the accused prove "legitimate suspicion" that the judges are biased.

The bill provoked furious criticism in parliament, where opposition politicians insisted that its purpose was to get the trial of another close colleague of Mr Berlusconi, Cesare Previti shifted from Milan to a friendlier court in another city.

The government claimed that the law was "in the general interest of citizens". But its first effect after it was signed into law was indeed the suspension of the Previti trial.