An Italian judge on Friday ordered former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial over alleged fraud at broadcaster Mediaset, the latest in a string of court cases involving Italy's richest man. The case, which Berlusconi has dismissed as politically motivated, follows a four-year investigation into claims of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering in television rights deals between 1994 and 1999. Berlusconi could face four to 12 years in jail if convicted of money laundering and up to six years for tax fraud. But Berlusconi has managed to avoid jail in at least seven previous graft trials. He was found guilty four times, but verdicts were overturned on appeal or the statute of limitations applied and charges were dropped.
The decision to call the trial follows Berlusconi's razor-thin defeat in April general elections, which saw Italy's longest-serving post-war prime minister ousted from power in what he angrily claimed was a fraudulent result. "It was a predictable decision, considering the previous hearings in Milan," said Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini after the ruling. "They haven't allowed crucial witnesses for the defense to be heard."
My take on this is that Italy's Left is trying to punnish Berlusconi for being... well, Berlusconi! They have to ruin him before their new government collapses. What do you think?