Berlusconi turns on investigators

SILVIO BERLUSCONI, the right- wing media tycoon, yesterday fired off an angry complaint to President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, claiming that Milan's 'clean-hands' corruption magistrates, and one in particular, were trying to wreck his chances of an election victory.

His move followed a furious verbal battle with Milan's chief prosecutor, Francesco Saverio Borrelli, over arrest warrants which have been prepared by the magistrates for one of his closest aides and five other top executives of his Fininvest empire on suspicion of issuing fake invoices. The President is also the head of the judiciary and the complaint will automatically be passed on to the judiciary's self-governing body.

Mr Berlusconi has accused the magistrates of 'creating a police state' and claimed that one in particular 'is trying to damage me and is working in the interests of the Communists'. And he is reported as saying 'I entered into (electoral) battle to put an end to all that'.

Visibly enraged, he insisted at a televised press conference that his people had done nothing illegal. 'We have no skeletons in our cupboards, only suits and coathangers', the dapper multi-billionaire declared.

The storm began on Wednesday, when the magistrates' request for permission to arrest the six people, including Marcello dell'Utri - the head of Mr Berlusconi's Publitalia publicity firm - was leaked to the media. Mr Berlusconi described Mr dell'Utri as a man 'of the highest integrity', but according to the weekly l'Espresso, he has had business associations with members of the Mafia.

Two main investigations are being conducted against Mr Berlusconi's people. One concerns false invoicing and accounting. The other concerns the alleged payment to Torino by his Milan football team of part of the fee for the player Gianluigi Lentini out of slush funds. The supervising magistrate has not yet decided whether to allow the arrests.

The strongly anti-Berlusconi daily, La Repubblica, commented that not even Bettino Craxi, the disgraced former prime minister and a close friend of Mr Berlusconi, used 'such aggressive language' and 'such violent intimidation' against the magistrates. But it is doubtful whether his legal troubles will affect his political chances: the arrest of his brother Paolo made scarcely a dent in the rise of the popularity of his Forza Italia movement, and comments in bars and at bus-stops indicate that people inclined to vote for it share Mr Berlusconi's view of the affair, as a plot intended to damage his politicial reputation.

Yesterday was the last day that polls could be published before the elections in two weeks' time and they all indicated that the right- wing alliance, in which Mr Berlusconi is the strongest candidate, will get most seats but will not have an absolute majority. Of all the parties, Forza Italia appears the strongest, with 26 per cent of the vote, according to the CIRM institute. But pollsters say a large section of the electorate, estimated at anywhere from a quarter to a half, is still uncertain how to vote.