Italy: Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, yesterday recorded yet another "first" in his remarkable political career when he became the first sitting prime minister to appear at his own trial, writes Paddy Agnew in Rome
Mr Berlusconi's ongoing battle with the Italian judiciary was ratcheted up a gear yesterday morning when he chose to appear at the trial in Milan in which he and four others are accused of bribing judges to influence the 1985 sale of food and catering company SME.
Mr Berlusconi's hour-long court appearance comes just five days after another Milan court handed down an 11-year prison sentence to Mr Cesare Previti, a longtime political ally and the Prime Minister's former private lawyer. Mr Previti, who stood accused of bribing judges in two separate takeover battles, is also a co-defendant with Mr Berlusconi in the SME case.
With regard to one of those takeover battles, namely Mondadori, the court ruled that Mr Previti had bribed judges to obtain a favourable ruling on behalf of Mr Berlusconi's Fininvest holding company. Mr Berlusconi had originally been charged in the Mondadori case but was subsequently acquitted under the statute of limitations.
In his statement yesterday, a serious, determined-looking Mr Berlusconi argued that the late Socialist Prime Minister, Mr Bettino Craxi, had asked him to bid for SME to prevent a "plundering" of the state. At that time, SME was run by state-holding company, IRI, then headed by former Italian Prime Minister and current European Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi. Originally, SME was sold by IRI to Buitoni, then owned by industrialist Mr Carlo De Benedetti. That deal was scrapped on the orders of Mr Craxi, prompting Mr De Benedetti to turn to the courts to have the original sale upheld.
Mr De Benedetti's appeal, however, was rejected by a judge now accused of having accepted a bribe on behalf of Mr Berlusconi's Fininvest group. Yesterday, Mr Berlusconi said that Mr Craxi had told him that IRI had made a "present" of SME to Mr De Benedetti, adding that kickbacks might have changed hands.
Mr Berlusconi also appeared to point an accusatory finger at his former political opponent, Mr Prodi, when he said that Mr Prodi and Mr De Benedetti had secretly "wrapped up the business" at a closed sitting of the IRI board.
Saying that he stood before the court "with an untarnished reputation", Mr Berlusconi added: "I'm speaking not only as the accused in this case, but as the citizen Berlusconi, to whom the majority of Italians have entrusted the responsibility and the honour of governing the country."
He has threatened to call a snap general election if convicted in the SME case.