Fininvest Offices Searched by Police

MILAN, February 21: Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest offices
were searched by Milan police yesterday, according to news wires, as part of a
fraud investigation involving the former Italian prime minister.

The investigation stems from Mediaset’s acquisition of
television rights for U.S. movies from Hollywood studios. Berlusconi has been
charged with false accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud in relation to the
deals for the TV rights. It is alleged that Mediaset acquired the movie rights
through offshore companies and falsely declared their costs to lower the
company’s tax bill.

A Fininvest spokesman told news agency AFX that police
searched Berlusconi’s offices for about four hours yesterday, at the request of
prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale. They were said to be searching for correspondence
between ex-Fininvest chairman Aldo Bonomo and Egyptian businessman and
Hollywood producer Frank Agrama, according to the news agency MF-Dow Jones.