A jailed Mafia hitman linked Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to the Cosa Nostra today, telling a court that a godfather convicted for a 1993 bombing campaign had boasted of his links to the media mogul.
Mr Berlusconi says biased courts are making false charges to bring down the 19-month-old government, his third since 1994, and attack his business empire.
Stripped of immunity from prosecution, the prime minister faced legal difficulties on two fronts today, with an ally appealing against conviction on Mafia charges and an unrelated corruption case where he is accused of bribing a British lawyer.
Mafia "pentito", or mobster-turned-witness, Gaspare Spatuzza told a court in Turin that a Mafia clan leader later jailed for the attacks had named Mr Berlusconi, who had not entered politics at the time, in connection with the bombings.
He recounted a meeting with clan boss Giuseppe Graviano, later given multiple life sentences along with his brother for the bombings in Rome, Milan and Florence, in a cafe on Rome's Via Veneto in early 1994, after the deadly bombing campaign.
"Graviano told me we had obtained everything, thanks to the seriousness of the people who'd helped with our affair ... he mentioned two names, he called Berlusconi 'the man from Channel 5'," said Spatuzza, referring to a Mediaset television channel.
He quoted Graviano saying: "We have everything thanks to the seriousness of these people, specifically Berlusconi ... they put the country in our hands."
Mr Berlusconi is not formally linked to the case, part of an appeal by a political and business associate. He has dismissed earlier evidence from Spatuzza to prosecutors as "unfounded".
"It is completely logical the Mafia would use its members to make statements against the prime minister of a government that has acted in a determined and concrete way against organised crime," said his spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti after Spatuzza spoke.
"Our government has arrested eight Mafiosi a day. It has arrested 15 of the 30 most wanted fugitives. It has confiscated an average of €8 million from the mafia a day for a total of €5.6 billion," said Mr Bonaiuti in a statement.
Spatuzza spoke in open court for the first time as part of an appeal by pro-Berlusconi senator Marcello Dell'Utri against his conviction for association with the Mafia. He spoke behind a screen in a maximum-security courtroom packed with reporters.
"It's all false. And of course Berlusconi is completely calm about it too. He's more afraid of his wife than Spatuzza," joked Mr Dell'Utri referring to Mr Berlusconi's current divorce proceedings. The senator is fighting against a nine-year jail term.
Mr Berlusconi has threatened to sue newspapers that reported he was being investigated and that the mob had a stake in his business. A Florence court that has reopened an investigation into the bomb attacks has said that Mr Berlusconi is not being investigated.
The prime minister said last weekend: "If there's a person who by nature, sensitivity, mentality, background, culture and political effort is very far from the Mafia, it is me."
Mr Berlusconi has never been convicted in the 109 cases brought against him since beginning in politics 15 years ago and many Italians have little sympathy with the notoriously slow courts.
But the suspicion of Mafia links could damage his standing more than all the fraud and corruption cases, one of which was due to reopen today in Milan, with Berlusconi accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills with $600,000.
Mills has already been sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison, pending an appeal, for accepting the bribe in 1997 to withhold evidence about Mr Berlusconi's business dealings.
The trial against Mr Berlusconi was suspended while he had immunity, then the Milan court conceded today that his official duties - including a cabinet meeting - were a legitimate reason to further postpone the first hearing.
In another trial for tax fraud and false accounting in the acquisition of media rights, prosecutors say Mediaset paid an inflated price to offshore firms controlled by Mr Berlusconi.
The prime minister says he is confident of acquittal in both cases but would remain premier even if convicted. He wants to be present in court but says he cannot find time before January.
A long delay could see the charges elapse under the statute of limitations, as happened in another case where his holding company was hit with €750 million in damages last month for bribing a judge, but criminal charges against him had expired.
Reuters