Berlusconi censured by UN over bribes case

The efforts of Silvio Berlusconi to keep his head above a sea of legal troubles suffered another setback yesterday when a blistering United Nations report on the behaviour of the Italian Prime Minister was leaked to Reuters news agency.

Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, criticised Mr Berlusconi for trying to exploit loopholes in the law to gain advantage in criminal trials where he is the defendant. "It is not proper for the Prime Minister, being the chief executive of the government, to be seen to be taking advantage of procedural weakness," he wrote.

Last month Mr Berlusconi's attempt to get a case in which he is accused of bribing a judge moved to a friendly bench was rejected by the Supreme Court.