MSG100G/01E ITALY: Berlusconi Insists on His Innocence
ROME, Nov 23 (IPS) - Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, continued to protest his innocence regarding charges of corruption, in an effort to save political face after he was issued a summons from the public prosecutor's office in Milan on Tuesday.
"I have sworn on all I love most in the world - my children - that I had nothing to do with the things they are accusing me of," said Berlusconi from Naples on Wednesday, after attending a three day United Nations sponsored international conference on organised crime.
He said he was in a "state of calm indignation," adding, "it's incredible that a mechanism that should be used to protect citizens is used instead as an offensive weapon."
The legal notification issued implies no guilt, but advises a person that they are under investigation, to allow them to seek legal representation.
Berlusconi has been accused of complicity in the payment of 143,000 dollars in bribes to tax investigators by companies in his Fininvest empire during 1991 and 1992, before he entered politics.
Another investigation is looking into his investments in "Telepiu," the only Italian cable station, as Berlusconi already owns the three largest private national T.V. channels, and is therefore only legally allowed 10 percent of the shares in the cable network.
"I have never signed anything on these three businesses, and I can be accused of nothing," he said, adding that he had doubts about one of the Fininvest companies, "not related to me, but over something that occurred before I joined the company."
The "Clean Hands" anti-mafia investigations, which are now affecting Berlusconi, began in 1992 and have looked into the dealings of some 6,000 Italian politicians and businessmen.
© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service