"I won’t have the opportunity to prove my innocence"
(L'avv. David Mills a Channel 4, UK)
MA SI' CHE POTRA' AVERE "the opportunity"!
cfr.:
Corte Costituzionale
sentenza 31 maggio 1990, n. 275
LA CORTE COSTITUZIONALE
Dichiara l'illegittimità costituzionale dell'art. 157 del codice penale nella
parte in cui non prevede che la prescrizione del reato possa essere rinunziata
dall'imputato
MA SAREBBE CONVENIENTE?
"Tecnicamente e' possibile rinunciare alla prescrizione ma in una situazione
come quella di Milano non si rinuncia neanche ad un buono pasto".
INDOVINA CHI L'HA DETTO!
FINANCIAL TIMES
www.ft.com/cms/s/1698dd1c-0dfe-11db-a385-0000779e2340.html
Confusion clouds links between Mills and Berlusconi
By Adrian Michaels in Milan and Jimmy Burns in London
Published: July 7 2006 22:24 | Last updated: July 7 2006 22:24
David Mills, the estranged husband of Tessa Jowell, the UK culture secretary, says he has met Silvio Berlusconi only once, and even that is one more time than Mr Berlusconi says he has met Mr Mills.
But although the two men have had so little, or indeed no, contact, Italian prosecutors evidently believe they nonetheless had a relationship which involved a great deal of wrongdoing.
Both say they are innocent of the allegations against them. After a judge’s ruling yesterday in Milan, those allegations now formally extend to involvement in money laundering, tax evasion and improper accounting. The two were already under investigation in a bribery case that had forced Ms Jowell to defend herself against accusations in the UK that she had breached the ministerial code of conduct.
Fabio Paparella, the judge, on Friday committed to trial Mr Berlusconi, Mr Mills and 11 others following requests by prosecutors. The central allegations in the latest case involve the purchase in the 1990s by businesses controlled by Mr Berlusconi of television and film rights from the US and the subsequent improper accounting in the further sale of those rights to other Berlusconi businesses.
For Mr Berlusconi, the case is another in an orchestrated campaign against him by the Italian judiciary. Mediaset, the media company that he controls, said: “There is no basis for these accusations. The company’s accounts have always been prepared with rigorous observance of transparency and legality.’’
Mr Mills says he was not working for Mr Berlusconi’s companies in the years in question. He told the UK’s Channel 4 news last night that the judge had ordered he should stand trial over allegations he aided and abetted tax evasion.
He said: “These are charges which would never have been brought in the UK. Italy is Italy and things are different there. I will just have to put up with it.”
He predicted that the case would effectively be annulled in 18 months due to the statute of limitations governing the alleged offences, saying that would be “long before” the allegations could be proven or disproved. He added: “I won’t have the opportunity to prove my innocence.”
Mr Berlusconi has been convicted of wrongdoing in his business affairs in the past but the convictions have either been overturned on appeal or annulled be-cause of statutes of limitations.
Friday’s trial announcement came on the day Ms Jowell represented her government at a high-profile service in London marking the first anniversary of the London bombings.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006