Berlusconi to be tried for fraud
Silvio Berlusconi denies he has done anything wrong

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5159198.stm

7/7/2006

An Italian judge has ruled that former PM Silvio Berlusconi should stand trial over alleged fraud concerning his family's media company Mediaset.

He is one of 14 people sent for trial by Judge Fabio Paparella in the northern city of Milan.

It follows an investigation into claims of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering in TV rights deals between 1994 and 1999.

The trial is set to begin in November. Mr Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Berlusconi headed a centre-right government for five years until he resigned after his defeat in April's general election.

Preliminary hearings began last October into the findings of a four-year investigation by Milan prosecutors into the allegations involving Mediaset.

Lawyer David Mills, the estranged husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, has also been ordered to stand trial.