Italian magistrates have concluded an investigation into whether Premier Silvio Berlusconi bribed a lawyer to give false testimony and they intend to seek his indictment on corruption charges, a prosecutor said today.
Milan Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale said the prosecution rushed to wrap up the investigation and bring the case to trial after parliament passed a reform backed by Berlusconi's government that reduced the statute of limitations on the charges.
If no new evidence is raised during a 20-day period in which defence lawyers can make objections, the prosecution will ask a judge to indict the premier, De Pasquale said.
Mr Berlusconi declined to comment on the case during a press conference in Rome, but his lawyer said the inquiry had been timed to hurt the premier ahead of April elections.
"Every time there are elections, the Milan prosecutors' office gets moving and produces something for us," lawyer Niccolo Ghedini was quoted as saying by the news agency Apcom.
De Pasquale denied the timing was intended to coincide with the campaign, saying that based on the reform, the charges against Berlusconi would run out after 10 years instead of 15, in 2008.
"The prosecution needs the trial to start as soon as possible," he said. The premier is accused of ordering the payment of at least £300,000 to British lawyer David Mills in 1997 to give false testimony in two trials against him.
AP