Berlusconi's lawyer calls corruption trial 'ridiculous'

Embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's lawyer defended Italy's leader in a national newspaper yesterday, denouncing charges in a case involving his media empire as "ridiculous" and "unfounded".

Niccolo Ghedini, also deputy for Mr Berlusconi's centre-right People of Liberty party, told Corriere della Sera the suspicion of breach of trust by the Prime Minister was "contradicted by the facts, documents, testimonies".

Prosecutors in Milan on Friday announced the end of the investigation into Mediatrade-RTI's acquisition of rights to broadcast films, a move that is normally followed by a request for a court case.

Mediatrade-RTI is part of Mr Berlusconi's media empire.

A group of 12, including Mr Berlusconi, his son, US film producer Frank Agrama and two people from Hong Kong, are suspected of inflating the price paid to Paramount and other studios and using the money to create a slush fund.

Mr Berlusconi is suspected of breach of trust, while his friend Fedele Confalonieri, the head of Mediaset, a subsidiary of Mr Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest, is suspected of tax fraud.

According to the lawyer there is nothing that proves "illegal connections between Mediaset or Berlusconi" and Mr Agrama's accounts.

The inquiry began in 2007 with a raid on RTI and the seizure of 100 million dollars (€70 million) from the Swiss bank accounts of a Hong Kong-based company belonging to Agrama.

Mr Ghedini categorically rejected the suspicions, stressing that "the Prime Minister did not get a penny".

Mr Berlusconi, 73, is currently on trial in two other cases.

Mr Ghedini dismissed there was any coincidence with a recent draft law that would set a two-year limit on all trials, with the same term applying to the two subsequent appeals - limiting the full legal process to six years.

The Italian press predicts Mr Berlusconi could benefit from the project to shorten legal trials.