Prodi to sue Berlusconi-owned newspaper

Date: 02/10/03

By David Cronin

ROMANO Prodi is to take legal action against a newspaper controlled by premier Silvio Berlusconi's family for publishing claims he received bribes resulting from a controversial deal between Italy and the former Yugoslavia in the Slobodan Milosevic era, European Voice has learned.

The European Commission president has said that he feels he is the victim of a “very violent political campaign” in his native Italy.

He believes he was defamed after newspapers reported allegations by financial consultant Igor Marini that Prodi and two political allies received massive kickbacks in connection with the 1997 purchase of a 29% stake by Telecom Italia in Telekom Serbia, then a state-owned firm in Yugoslavia.

Prodi was Italy's prime minister in a centre-left government at the time.

An Italian political source close to the Commission's chief confirmed this week that he intends to sue two papers for libel. These are Il Giornale, a daily run by Paolo Berlusconi, brother of premier Silvio, and part of the Berlusconi family's Fininvest media empire, as well as Libero, another paper sympathetic to Forza Italia, the main party in the ruling coalition.

The source insisted that Prodi had no involvement in the l456-million transaction, adding: “My feeling is that this is an attempt to lay a dirty trap for Prodi through misinformation and lies.”

In a statement last month, Prodi vigorously denied accusations that the deal was tantamount to aid for Milosevic's dictatorial regime.

He pointed out that the agreement took place more than 18 months after the 1995 Dayton accords, aimed at bringing peace to the former Yugoslavia, and eight months after the UN Security Council removed a trade embargo against Belgrade.

Prodi has offered to appear before a committee of inquiry set up by the Italian parliament to probe the allegations. His Brussels aides say, however, that he has not yet been called to give evidence by that body.

In any event, his supporters are hoping that the allegations of bribery, also being investigated by Turin-based magistrates, will be thrown out.

They have cast doubt on whether Marini can be considered a credible witness; he was arrested by Swiss authorities in May and extradited to Italy on fraud and money-laundering charges.

Prodi's decision to sue the two newspapers is the latest twist in a saga of bitter exchanges between Silvio Berlusconi and his political rivals.

When Piero Faustino, head of the Democrats of the Left (DS) party, alleged last month that the premier himself was orchestrating a smear campaign against his opponents, Berlusconi demanded €15 million in damages from him.

Although he has not officially announced his intention to return to the domestic political fray when his stint as Commission president ends next year, Prodi is rated by many pundits as one of the few figures who could mount a successful challenge against Berlusconi.

Relations between the two men have become increasingly antagonistic in recent months. Berlusconi used a court appearance in May, when he faced corruption charges relating to the 1985 privatisation of state-owned Italian food company SME, to accuse Prodi of abusing his former position as chairman of state holdings company IRI to under-value SME. (Berlusconi claimed Prodi wanted to help a political ally, Carlo De Benetti, who owned the rival Buitoni pasta group.)

Prodi emphatically denied the allegation and a new law conferred Berlusconi with immunity from prosecution a month later, just prior to Italy taking over the reigns of the EU's rotating six-month presidency.

European Commission President, Romano Prodi, is to sue a newspaper controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister. The newspaper published claims that Mr Prodi received bribes arising from a controversial deal between Italy and the former Yugoslavia.