From:
©DISTRIBUTED WITH THE
©FOCUS
ITALY DAILY, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 13 -14, 2000 Page 3
©©ITALY DAILY, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 13 -14, 2000 Page 3
By Laura Collura
ITALY DAILY STAFF
When a Milan appeals court overturned a conviction on bribery charges against media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi this week, it was simply the latest chapter in a remarkable political comeback. The court cleared Mr. Berlusconi of four counts of bribery, invoking the statute of limitations to overturn a 1998 conviction on three of them. The court acquitted him on the fourth count, ruling that he "did not commit the crime." A lower court had previously sentenced Mr. Berlusconi to two years and nine months in prison, alleging that he had authorized his Fininvest holding company’s managers to pay off tax inspectors in exchange for favorable audits in the early 1990s. For Mr. Berlusconi, this acquittal, though largely the result of a technicality, represented the crown jewel of his rehabilitation — a seemingly unstoppable return to success that would have been inconceivable just two years ago. On November 23, 1994, when Mr. Berlusconi, then serving as prime minister, received notice that he was under investigation in the case that came to an end this week, it appeared to be the beginning of an irreversible undoing. Two years ago, his situation had grown so grim that some analysts predicted that his mounting judicial woes and his coalition’s slide would soon force him out of politics. There was also widespread speculation that he might go so far as to sell his media holdings to foreign businessmen and altogether retire from public life. As recently as 1998, Mr. Berlusconi was caught up in a web of eight separate court cases, ranging from bribery to tax fraud and illegal party financing. That same year, he received three convictions, totaling sentences for six years and nine months in prison.
But today, Mr. Berlusconi, ever resilient, appears the most likely candidate to be the country’s next prime minister. "Berlusconi performed a miracle, and we are the beneficiaries of this miracle," said Gianni Baget Bozzo, a member of Mr. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, on Friday. According to a poll by ISPO published on Corriere della Sera this month, Mr. Berlusconi is Italy’s most popular political leader, with 34 per-cent of those interviewed citing him as their favorite. In April, Mr. Berlusconi’s supporters were 28 percent. How did the fall from and return to grace come about so quickly? A series of court decisions, often based on technicalities, have cleared him of charges in four different trials. The most important ruling was undoubtedly the one which came this week, as it erased the most damning stain on Mr. Berlusconi’s record. In 1994, the tax fraud case embarrassed him before the world, as Milan prosecutors served him with an investigation warrant in Naples while he was presiding over a United Nations summit on international crime. Mr. Berlusconi’s government collapsed a month later. As Mr. Berlusconi’s judicial problems began to disappear one after the other, he was also able to hammer home his claim that he is the victim of a political vendetta orchestrated by left-wing prosecutors. Once hailed as popular heroes, the Milan prosecutors who started the Tangentopoli political bribery investigations in 1992 are today the target of widespread criticism. Many accuse them of wasting time and money to set up cases they were then unable to prove. Indeed, news reports said this week that many prosecutors in Milan are seeking to leave what was once the most prestigious court in the country. Mr. Berlusconi and his allies were quick to harp on the conspiracy theme this week. "Once again, we have the confirmation of what [we] have been saying for a long time: a politically motivated legal theorem has conditioned political life in Italy for the last six years," said Rocco Buttiglione, the leader of the CDU, a junior partner in the center-right coalition. Mr. Berlusconi began to claw his way back last year. In June 1999, after a televised ad blitz on his Mediaset network, Forza Italia ran away with the European Parliament elections, winning 25.2 percent of the vote, surpassing the Democratic Left as the country’s largest party. He capped his electoral success last month, when the center-right scored a whopping victory in the regional elections, clinching eight out of the 15 regional presidencies. None of this happened by accident. On the legal front, Mr. Berlusconi’s lawyers shrewdly succeeded in drawing out trials to the point that courts were forced to shelve many allegations because the statute of limitations had expired. In addition, each time an appeals court clears him of charges, Mr. Berlusconi’s many media outlets — three national television networks, the country’s leading news-magazine,a daily and a string of otherpublications — often give the newsa triumphant spin.Il Giornale daily, which belongs toMr. Berlusconi’s brother, devotedmost of its front page to Mr. Berlusconi’sacquittal this week. A headlineread: "Milan’s prosecutors were condemnedsix years too late."On Wednesday, commenting on thelatest ruling, Mr. Berlusconi himselfsaid: "The truth comes to light after alegitimately elected government wasforced to fall."Even on the international level,standards have shifted so that Mr.Berlusconi no longer appears thepolitical outcast he did a few yearsago. When even Germany’s formerChancellor Helmut Kohl admitted toaccepting slush funds on behalf of hisChristian Democratic party last year,many started thinking of under-the-tablepolitical funding as a standardby-product of democracy."Until recently, Italian politics wereseen as a game apart, as somethingbedeviled by problems other countries didn’t have," said Graham Mather, the president of the European Policy Forum, a think tank based in London and Brussels. "But after Kohl’s admissions, the eruption of similar problems in France and Belgium, and even the en masse resignation of the European Commission last year [on charges of cronyism and corruption], people are less ready to throw stones at Rome. Italy is no longer a pariah."
With his once-dreadful legal situation drastically improved, Berlusconi has a new shot at power.
LEGAL EAGLES — Mr. Berlusconi, shown here during a 1996 trial proceeding, has benefited from excellent legal advice.
AP Net
© Italy Daily/IHT 2000
The Authors are responsible of their opinions - Gli autori sono responsabili delle loro opinioni - Los autores son responsables de sus opiniones
Disclaimer: All articles are put on line as a service to our readers. We do not get any economical advantage from it. Any copyright violation is involuntarily, we are ready to exclude any article if so requested by the author or copyright owner. Send a message to: copyright@duesicilie.org
Lista/List