Berlusconi Ordered to Stand Trial

July 10, 2006 World Screen

ROME, July 10: An Italian judge has ordered former Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial over alleged fraud at Mediaset.

According to wire reports, the trial follows a four-year
investigation into claims of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and
money laundering in television rights deals between 1994 and 1999. If
convicted, Berlusconi could face anywhere from four to 12 years in prison.

In related news, the former Italian leader has been accused
of paying a $600,000 kickback to lawyer David Mills, the estranged husband of
British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.