Posted on 03/10/2006 3:34:14 PM PST by Cboldt
ROME, March 10 A month before tight national elections, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was besieged today by two new embarrassments: Prosecutors asked that he be put on trial for corruption, and his health minister resigned over accusations that he spied on political opponents ...
Still, this race, at a time of no economic growth and growing frustration among voters here, might be different. Polls indicate that Mr. Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, is running behind his center-left challenger, Romano Prodi. There are other problems as well, including an earlier resignation of a minister and continuing disarray among his center-right allies. ...
Following reports that their investigation was complete, prosecutors in Milan said today that they would ask that Mr. Berlusconi and a British lawyer, David Mills, be put on trial for judicial corruption.
The prosecutors released no details, but the case has been widely reported in the Italian news media, and centers on whether Mr. Berlusconi ordered $600,000 to be paid in 1997 in exchange for Mr. Mills' providing false testimony in two other cases against Mr. Berlusconi.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Prosecutors asked that he be put on trial for corruption"
Taking a cue from American partisan prosecutors like Lawrence Walsh indicting Cap Weinberger on a misunderstanding right before the 1992 race with Clinton...
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