A magistrate yesterday presided over the interrogation of two Maltese people, a lawyer and an accountant, as part of the fraud and misappropriation case which the Italian judicial authorities have instituted against former Italian Prime Minister and businessman Silvio Berlusconi and several other people.
Magistrate Miriam Hayman presided over the sitting during which a number of questions received by the Maltese authorities from the Italian authorities – which in legal terms are called letters rogatory – were put to the witnesses.
The Italian authorities are accusing a number of people who are directly involved in several companies with fiscal fraud, false accountancy and misappropriation. Three of them alone are also being accused of money laundering.
The Italian authorities are claiming that Silvio Berlusconi’s company purchased television rights through fraudulent means since the 1980s, hopping from one company to another and inflating the price of the actual rights purchased. Eventually these rights were purchased by a number of dummy offshore companies owned by Mr Berlusconi and his family. In this way, the group would be accumulating a profit.
The people who are facing these charges in court are: Mr Berlusconi and 11 company representatives: Frank Agrama, Marco Colombo, Fedele Confalonieri, Giorgio Dal Negro, Paolo Del Bue, Manuela De Socio, Gabriella Galetto, Erminio Giraudi, Daniele Lorenzano, David Donald Mills Mackenzie and Carlo Scribani Rossi.
They are all charged with misappropriation, fiscal fraud and false accounting. Mr Del Bue, Mr Giraudi and Mr Mills Mackenzie are also charged with money laundering.
Maltese company Intern-
ational Media Services Limited (IMS) had been called into the case by one of the accused.
Lawyer Tonio Fenech, one of the directors of IMS and therefore representing a company which is part of the proceedings, was called to testify. In view of this, he was given a caution by the presiding magistrate that he had the right to refuse to answer if he felt that with his reply he could be incriminating himself or his company. He was also given the right not to answer as a legal privilege, therefore protecting his clients’ rights.
After being cautioned, Dr Fenech refused to answer some questions but answered those which are public knowledge.
Malcolm Booker, a partner at Deloitte and Touche, testified about corporate services rendered to a number of companies.
Dr Joe Giglio appeared for Silvio Berlusconi.