Berlusconi accused of bribing witnesses in prostitution case
2 Dec 2013 4:50 AM IST
The accusation, two days after Berlusconi was stripped of his seat in parliament for tax fraud, came in a written judgment in the trial of three associates of the billionaire media tycoon who are charged with procuring prostitutes for parties at his home near Milan.
The court said the evidence against Berlusconi and the others implicated had been sent to prosecutors who are expected to open a new investigation into the case, the court documents showed. His lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo, who were also accused of inducing false testimony in the case, issued a statement saying the accusations were ‘totally disconnected from reality and from the facts’. They said they were confident the investigation by prosecutors would be dropped.
The written judgment said there was evidence Berlusconi had paid ‘money and other benefits’ to young women who had taken part in the parties to give misleading evidence in the case, one of a number of scandals which overshadowed the end of his last government in 2011.
The court said the evidence against Berlusconi and the others implicated had been sent to prosecutors who are expected to open a new investigation into the case, the court documents showed. His lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo, who were also accused of inducing false testimony in the case, issued a statement saying the accusations were ‘totally disconnected from reality and from the facts’. They said they were confident the investigation by prosecutors would be dropped.
The written judgment said there was evidence Berlusconi had paid ‘money and other benefits’ to young women who had taken part in the parties to give misleading evidence in the case, one of a number of scandals which overshadowed the end of his last government in 2011.
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