Blimey, Buffoon Berlusconi's Bad

[David Guyatt]

Blimey! Buffoon Berlusconi's double bad bribery!

Well, I never.

Silvio Berlusconi faces trial for allegedly bribing senator

Former PM accused of bribing Sergio De Gregorio as part of attempt to bring down Romano Prodi's government in 2006

• Reuters in Naples
  
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 23 October 2013 18.33 BST
  

Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister of Italy. Photograph: Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images

Silvio Berlusconi has been ordered to stand trial for corruption, in a fresh legal blow following his conviction for tax fraud in August and a string of other cases.
Prosecutors in Naples accuse the former prime minister of bribing Sergio De Gregorio, a former senator in the small Italy of Values party, to switch allegiance as part of an attempt to bring down the centre-left government of Romano Prodi in 2006.
De Gregorio, who has admitted receiving €3m from Berlusconi and attempting to persuade other senators to change sides, was sentenced to 20 months in jail after plea bargaining. His change of sides destabilised Prodi's government and contributed to its eventual collapse, but he has since turned against Berlusconi.
"This is a decision which substantially confirms what I told the Naples magistrates," De Gregorio told SkyTG24 television. "I have cleared my conscience as far as possible and apologised for what I did."
Berlusconi has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer Michele Cerabona said he was confident of the outcome of a preliminary hearing expected on 11 February.
However, the case adds to a long list of legal headaches facing the billionaire media tycoon, who faces expulsion from parliament and a year of community service or house arrest after he was convicted of being at the centre of a vast tax fraud system at his Mediaset television empire.
His legal battles have caused serious tension in Enrico Letta's coalition government, an unwieldy alliance between the centre-left Democratic party and Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL).
Berlusconi and his supporters have consistently argued that politically biased magistrates have tried to destroy him, and there was a chorus of support from PDL MPs following news of the trial.
"The strategy of a certain section of the magistracy is clear as is its objective. Reform of the justice system is unavoidable," said Mara Carfagna, spokeswoman of the PDL group in the lower house of parliament.