Berlusconi was involved in many controversies and
over 20 court cases during his political career, including being sentenced to four years' imprisonment and a five-year ban from public office by the Court of Appeals for €7M tax evasion (and €280M
slush fund) on 8 May 2013, confirmed by the
Court of Cassation on 1 August 2013. Due to
a general pardon, his imprisonment was reduced to one year, On 24 June 2013, Berlusconi was found guilty of paying an underage prostitute for sex, and of abusing his powers in an ensuing cover up. He was sentenced to seven years in jail, and banned from public office for life. He was acquitted from the sex charges by the Italy appeals court on Friday, 18 July 2014.
Economic conflicts of interest According to journalists
Marco Travaglio and
Enzo Biagi, Berlusconi entered politics to save his companies from bankruptcy and himself from
convictions. Berlusconi's supporters hailed him as the "
novus homo", an outsider who was going to bring a new efficiency to the public
bureaucracy and reform the state from top to bottom. Berlusconi was investigated for forty different inquests in less than two years. Berlusconi's governments passed laws that shortened
statutory terms for tax fraud. Romano Prodi, who defeated Berlusconi in 2006, claimed that these were
ad personam laws, meant to solve Berlusconi's problems and defend his interests.
Media control and conflict of interest , Berlusconi's broadcasting company, in
Cologno Monzese Berlusconi's extensive control over the media was widely criticised by some analysts, some press freedom organisations, and extensively by several Italian newspapers, national and private TV channels, by opposition leaders and in general members of opposition parties, who allege that Italy's media has
limited freedom of expression. However such coverage of the complaint in practice put under discussion the point of the complaint itself. The
Freedom of the Press 2004 Global Survey, an annual study issued by the American organisation
Freedom House, downgraded Italy's ranking from 'Free' to 'Partly Free' due to Berlusconi's influence over RAI, a ranking which, in "Western Europe" was shared only with Turkey ().
Reporters Without Borders states that in 2004, "The conflict of interests involving Prime Minister Berlusconi and his vast media empire was still not resolved and continued to threaten news diversity." In April 2004, the
International Federation of Journalists joined the criticism, objecting to the passage of a law vetoed by
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in 2003, which critics believe was designed to protect Berlusconi's reported 90% control of the Italian national media. Berlusconi's influence over RAI became evident when in
Sofia, Bulgaria he expressed his views on journalists
Enzo Biagi and
Michele Santoro, and comedian
Daniele Luttazzi. Berlusconi said that they "use television as a criminal means of communication". They lost their jobs as a result. This statement was called by critics "
Editto Bulgaro". The TV broadcasting of a satirical programme called
RAIot was censored in November 2003 after the comedian
Sabina Guzzanti made outspoken criticism of the Berlusconi media empire. Mediaset, one of Berlusconi's companies, sued RAI over Guzzanti's program, demanding 20 million euros for "damages"; in November 2003 the show was cancelled by the president of RAI, Lucia Annunziata. The details of the event were made into a
Michael Moore-style documentary called
Viva Zapatero!, which was produced by Guzzanti. Berlusconi owned via
Mediaset 3 of 7 national TV channels: (
Canale 5,
Italia 1, and
Rete 4). Mediaset stated that it uses the same criteria as the public (state-owned) television
RAI in assigning a proper visibility to all the most important political parties and movements (the so-called 'Par Condicio')—which has been since often disproved.
Enrico Mentana, the news anchor long seen as a guarantor of Canale 5's independence, walked out in April 2008, saying that he no longer felt "at home in a group that seems like an electoral campaign committee". annual data related to Italy about the
freedom of press reports from 1980 to 2013 On 24 June 2009, Berlusconi during the
Confindustria young members congress in
Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy invited the advertisers to interrupt or boycott the advertising contracts with the magazines and newspapers published by , claiming that it was fuelling the economic crisis by discussing it extensively and accusing it of making a "subversive attack" against him. In October 2009,
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general declared that Berlusconi "is on the verge of being added to our list of Predators of Press Freedom", which would be a first for a European leader. He also added that Italy will probably be ranked last in the European Union in the upcoming edition of the RWB
press freedom index.
Criticism by The Economist One of Berlusconi's strongest critics in the media outside Italy was the British weekly
The Economist (nicknamed
"The Ecommunist" by Berlusconi, despite the magazine's association with
market liberalism), which in its issue of 26 April 2001 carried a title on its front cover, 'Why Silvio Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy'. The war of words between Berlusconi and
The Economist gained notoriety, with Berlusconi taking the publication to court in Rome and
The Economist publishing letters against him. The magazine claimed that the documentation contained in its article proved that Berlusconi was 'unfit' for office because of his numerous conflicts of interest. Via
Fininvest, Berlusconi claimed the article contained "a series of old accusations" that was an "insult to truth and intelligence". According to
The Economist findings, Berlusconi, while prime minister, retained in effective control of 90% of all national television broadcasting. This figure included stations he owned directly as well as those over which he had indirect control by dint of his position as prime minister and his ability to influence the choice of the management bodies of these stations.
The Economist also claimed that Berlusconi was corrupt and self-serving. A key journalist for
The Economist, David Lane, set out many of these charges in his book ''Berlusconi's Shadow''. Lane points out that Berlusconi had not defended himself in court against the main charges, but had relied upon political and legal manipulations, most notably by changing the statute of limitation to prevent charges being completed in the first place. To publicly prove the truth of the documented accusations contained in their articles, the magazine publicly challenged Berlusconi to sue
The Economist for libel. Berlusconi did so, losing versus
The Economist, and being charged for all the trial costs on 5 September 2008, when the Court in Milan issued a judgment rejecting all Berlusconi's claims and sentenced him to compensate for
The Economists legal expenses. In June 2011,
The Economist published a strong article referring to Berlusconi as "The man who screwed an entire country".
Legislative changes in
Genoa, between
Italian police and
anti-globalization movement, which caused the death of two protesters On some occasions, laws passed by the Berlusconi administration have effectively delayed ongoing trials involving him. For example, the law reducing punishment for all cases of false accounting and the law on
legitimate suspicion, which allowed defendants to request their cases to be moved to another court if they believe that the local judges are biased against them. Because of these legislative actions, political opponents accuse Berlusconi of passing these laws for the purpose of protecting himself from legal charges.
La Repubblica, for example, sustained that Berlusconi passed 17 different laws which have advantaged himself. Berlusconi and his allies, on the other hand, maintained that such laws were consistent with everyone's right to a rapid and just trial, and with the principle of "presumption of innocence" (
garantismo); furthermore, they claimed that Berlusconi was being subjected to a political "witch hunt",
orchestrated by certain (allegedly left-wing) judges. Berlusconi and his government quarrelled with the Italian judiciary often. His administration attempted to pass a judicial reform intended to limit the flexibility of judges and magistrates in their decision-making. Critics said it would instead limit the magistracy's independence by
de facto subjecting the judiciary to the executive's control. The reform was met by almost unanimous dissent from the Italian judges, but was passed by the Italian parliament in December 2004. It was vetoed by the Italian President,
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. During the night hours between 5 and 6 March 2010, the Berlusconi-led Italian government passed a decree "interpreting" the electoral law to let the PDL candidate run for governor in Lazio after she had failed to properly register for the elections. The Italian Constitution states that electoral procedures can only be changed in Parliament, and must not be changed by governmental decree. Italy's president, whose endorsement of the decree was required by law, said that the measure taken by the government may not violate the Constitution.
Accusations of links to the Mafia Berlusconi was never tried on charges relating to the
Sicilian Mafia, although several Mafia turncoats have stated that Berlusconi had connections with the Sicilian criminal association. The claims arise mostly from the hiring of
Vittorio Mangano, who was accused of being a
mafioso, as a gardener and stable-man at Berlusconi's Villa San Martino in
Arcore, a small town near Milan. It was Berlusconi's friend
Marcello Dell'Utri who introduced Mangano to Berlusconi in 1973. Berlusconi denied any ties to the Mafia. Marcello Dell'Utri even stated that the Mafia did not exist at all. In 2004, Dell'Utri, co-founder of , was sentenced to nine years by a
Palermo court on charge of "external association to the Mafia", a sentence describing Dell'Utri as a mediator between the economic interests of Berlusconi and members of the criminal organisation. Berlusconi refused to comment on the sentence. In 2010, Palermo's appeals court cut the sentence to seven years, but fully confirmed Dell'Utri's role as a link between Berlusconi and the Mafia until 1992. In 1996, a Mafia informer,
Salvatore Cancemi, declared that Berlusconi and Dell'Utri were in direct contact with
Salvatore Riina, head of the
Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s. Cancemi disclosed that Fininvest, through Marcello Dell'Utri and mafioso
Vittorio Mangano, had paid Cosa Nostra 200 million lire (between 100,000 and 200,000 of today's euro) annually. The alleged contacts, according to Cancemi, were to lead to legislation favourable to Cosa Nostra, in particular reforming the harsh
41-bis prison regime. The underlying premise was that Cosa Nostra would support Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in return for political favours. After a two-year investigation, magistrates closed the inquiry without charges. They did not find evidence to corroborate Cancemi's allegations. Similarly, a two-year investigation, also launched on evidence from Cancemi, into Berlusconi's alleged association with the Mafia was closed in 1996. Dell'Utri was the go-between on a range of legislative efforts to ease pressure on mafiosi in exchange for electoral support, according to Giuffrè. "Dell'Utri was very close to Cosa Nostra and a very good contact point for Berlusconi", he said. Giuffrè also said that Berlusconi himself used to be in touch with
Stefano Bontade, a top Mafia boss, in the mid-1970s. Dell'Utri's lawyer, Enrico Trantino, dismissed Giuffrè's allegations as an "anthology of hearsay". In October 2009,
Gaspare Spatuzza, a Mafioso turncoat, confirmed Giuffrè's statements. Spatuzza testified that his boss Giuseppe Graviano had told him in 1994, that Berlusconi was bargaining with the Mafia, concerning a political-electoral agreement between Cosa Nostra and Berlusconi's Forza Italia. Dell'Utri was the intermediary, according to Spatuzza. Dell'Utri has dismissed Spatuzza's allegations as "nonsense". Berlusconi's lawyer and MP for the PdL,
Niccolò Ghedini said that "the statements given by Spatuzza about prime minister Berlusconi are baseless and can be in no way verified".
Remarks on Western civilisation and Islam and Turkish prime minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2005 After the
11 September 2001 attacks in New York City, Berlusconi said: "We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and—in contrast with Islamic countries—respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its value understanding of diversity and tolerance." This declaration caused an uproar, not only in the Arab and Muslim world, but also all around Europe, including Italy. Subsequently, Berlusconi told the press: "We are aware of the crucial role of moderate Arab countries... I am sorry that words that have been misunderstood have offended the sensitivity of my Arab and Muslim friends."
Right-to-die case After the family of
Eluana Englaro (who had been comatose for 17 years) succeeded in having her
right to die recognised by the judges and getting doctors to start the process of allowing her to die in the way established by the court, Berlusconi issued a decree to stop the doctor from letting her die. Stating that, "This is murder. I would be failing to rescue her. I'm not a
Pontius Pilate." Berlusconi went on to defend his decision by claiming that she was "in the condition to have babies", arguing that comatose women were still subject to
menstruation.
Anti-immigration laws leaders in Canada, 2010 During his long career as
Prime Minister, Berlusconi had to deal with
massive immigration from the coast of North Africa. To limit
illegal immigration, the
Berlusconi's government promulgated the
Bossi-Fini law in 2002. The law provides the expulsion, issued by the Prefect of the Province where an illegal foreign immigrant is found, and is immediately performed with the assistance at the border of the
police. The standard allows the repatriation to the country of origin on the high seas, on the basis of bilateral agreements between Italy and neighbouring countries. If the illegal immigrant ships dock on Italian soil, the identification of those entitled to
political asylum and the supply of medical treatment and care is undertaken by the marine police force. The law had been criticised by the centre-left opposition
Jokes, gestures, and blunders in 2008 Berlusconi developed a reputation for making insensitive remarks. On 2 July 2003, Berlusconi suggested that German
Social democratic MEP Martin Schulz, who had criticised his domestic policies, should play a
Nazi concentration camp guard in a film. Berlusconi insisted that he was joking, but accused Schulz and others of being "bad-willing tourists of democracy". This incident caused a brief cooling of Italy's relationship with Germany. Addressing traders at the
New York Stock Exchange in September 2003, Berlusconi listed a series of reasons to invest in Italy, the first of which was that "we have the most beautiful secretaries in the world". This remark resulted in remonstration among female members of parliament, who took part in a one-day cross-party protest. In 2003, during an interview with Nicholas Farrell, then editor of
The Spectator, Berlusconi claimed that Mussolini "had been a benign dictator who did not murder opponents but sent them 'on holiday. One of Berlusconi's ministers later 'explained' the comment by saying that "anyone who had seen a picture of Halonen must have been aware that he had been joking". Halonen took the incident in good humour, retorting that Berlusconi had "overestimated his persuasion skills". In March 2006, Berlusconi alleged that Chinese communists under
Mao Zedong had "boiled [children] to fertilise the fields". His opponent
Romano Prodi criticised Berlusconi for offending the Chinese people and called his comments 'unthinkable'. summit in 2009. In the run-up to the
2008 Italian general election, Berlusconi was accused of
sexism for saying that female politicians from the right were "more beautiful" and that "the left has no taste, even when it comes to women". In 2008 Berlusconi criticised the composition of the Council of Ministers of the
Spanish Government as being too 'pink' by virtue of the fact that it had (once the President of the Council,
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is counted) an equal number of men and women. He also stated that he doubted that such a composition would be possible in Italy given the "prevalence of men" in Italian politics. Also in 2008, Berlusconi caused controversy at a joint press conference with Russian president
Vladimir Putin. When a journalist from the Russian paper
Nezavisimaya Gazeta asked a question about Putin's personal relationships, Berlusconi made a gesture towards the journalist imitating a gunman shooting. On 6 November 2008, two days after
Barack Obama was elected the first black US president, Berlusconi referred to Obama as "young, handsome and even tanned": On 26 March 2009 he said, "I'm paler [than Mr Obama], because it's been so long since I went sunbathing. He's more handsome, younger and taller." On 24 January 2009, Berlusconi announced his aim to increase the number of military patrolling the Italian cities from 3,000 to 30,000 to crack down on what he called an "evil army" of criminals. Responding to a female journalist who asked him if this tenfold increase in patrolling soldiers would be enough to secure Italian women from being raped, he said, "We could not field a big enough force to avoid this risk [of rape]. We would need as many soldiers as beautiful women and I don't think that would be possible, because our women are so beautiful." Opposition leaders called the remarks insensitive and in bad taste. Berlusconi retorted that he had merely wanted to compliment Italian women. Other critics accused him of creating a
police state. at the
NATO headquarters in
Brussels, 2005. Two days after the
2009 L'Aquila earthquake, Berlusconi suggested that people left homeless should view their experience as a camping weekend. In October 2010, Berlusconi was chastised by the Vatican newspaper ''
L'Osservatore Romano'' after he was filmed telling "offensive and deplorable jokes", including one whose punchline was similar to one of the gravest
blasphemies in the Italian language. It was also revealed he had made another antisemitic joke a few days previously. Berlusconi responded to the allegations by saying the jokes were "neither an offence nor a sin, but merely a laugh". in 2010. On 1 November 2010, after once again being accused of involvement in juvenile prostitution, he suggested that an audience at the Milan trade fair should stop reading newspapers: "Don't read newspapers any more because they deceive you. ... I am a man who works hard all day long and if sometimes I look at some good-looking girl, it's better to be fond of pretty girls than to be gay." The remarks were immediately condemned by
Arcigay, Italy's main
gay rights organisation. On 13 July 2011, according to a leaked telephone surveillance transcript, Berlusconi told his presumed
blackmailer Valter Lavitola: "The only thing they can say about me is that I screw around ... Now they're spying on me, controlling my phone calls. I don't give a fuck. In a few months ... I'll be leaving this shit country that makes me sick." On 27 January 2013, on the occasion of the
Holocaust Remembrance Day, Berlusconi said the Italian
fascist dictator
Benito Mussolini, except for
passing anti-Jewish laws in 1938, only had done "good things" for Italy; and also said Mussolini from a strategic point of view did the right thing in siding with
Adolf Hitler during
World War II, because Hitler at the point of time when the alliance was made had appeared to be winning the war.
Friendship with Bettino Craxi in 1984 Berlusconi's career as an entrepreneur was also often questioned by his detractors. The allegations made against him generally included suspicions about the extremely rapid increase of his activity in the construction industry in the years 1961–63, hinting at the possibility that in those years he received money from unknown and possibly illegal sources. These accusations were regarded by Berlusconi and his supporters as empty
slander, trying to undermine Berlusconi's reputation as a
self-made man. Also frequently cited by opponents are events dating to the 1980s, including supposed "
exchanges of favours" between Berlusconi and
Bettino Craxi, the former Socialist prime minister and leader of the
Italian Socialist Party convicted in 1994, for various corruption charges. The Milan magistrates who indicted and successfully convicted Craxi in their "
Clean Hands" investigation laid bare an entrenched system in which businessmen paid hundreds of millions of dollars to political parties or individual politicians in exchange for sweetheart deals with Italian state companies and the government itself. Berlusconi acknowledged a personal friendship with Craxi.
Freedom Army On 28 May 2013, Berlusconi and his entourage launched an online initiative which consisted of the recruitment of volunteers, who are available to defend Berlusconi from the convictions of
Milan's prosecutors, who were dealing with his trials, and whom Berlusconi often accused of being
communists and
anti-democratic. Simone Furlan, the creator of the Freedom Army, said in an interview: "There comes a time in life, when you realize that fighting for an ideal is no longer a choice but an obligation. We civil society we were helpless spectators of the 'War of the Twenty Years' which saw Berlusconi fight and defend against slanderous accusations of all kinds, the result of a judicial persecution without precedent in history." This initiative, launched as
Freedom Army, has been immediately nicknamed "Silvio's Army" by the media, and was condemned by the
Democratic Party, the
Five Star Movement and
Left Ecology Freedom.
Wiretaps and accusations of corruption In December 2007, the audio recording of a phone call between Berlusconi, then leader of the opposition, and Agostino Saccà (general director of
RAI) was published by the magazine ''
L'Espresso'' and caused a scandal in the media. The wiretap was part of an investigation by the Public Prosecutor Office of
Naples, where Berlusconi was investigated for corruption. In the phone call, Saccà expresses words of impassioned political support to Berlusconi and criticises the behaviour of Berlusconi's allies. Berlusconi urges Saccà to broadcast a telefilm series which was strongly advocated by his ally
Umberto Bossi. Saccà laments that many people have spread rumours about this agreement causing problems for him. Then Berlusconi asks Saccà to find a job in RAI for a young woman explicitly telling him that this woman would serve as an asset in a secret exchange with a senator of the majority who would help him to cause Prodi, with his administration, to fall. After the publication of these wiretaps, Berlusconi was accused by other politicians and by some journalists of political corruption through the exploitation of prostitution. In his own defence, Berlusconi said: "In the entertainment world everybody knows that, in certain situations in RAI TV you work only if you prostitute yourself or if you are leftist. I have intervened on behalf of some personalities who are not leftists and have been completely set apart by RAI TV." In the
State Department's 2011 Trafficking in Persons report authorised by US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, Berlusconi was explicitly named as a person involved in the "commercial sexual exploitation of a Moroccan child".
Divorce and allegations of sexual misconduct At the end of April 2009, Berlusconi's wife
Veronica Lario, who would divorce him several years later, wrote an open letter expressing her anger at Berlusconi's choice of young, attractive female candidates—some with little or no political experience—to represent the party in the
2009 European Parliament elections. Berlusconi demanded a public apology, claiming that for the third time, his wife had "done this to me in the middle of an election campaign", and stated that there was little prospect of his marriage continuing. On 3 May, Lario announced she was filing for divorce. She claimed that Berlusconi had not attended his own sons' 18th birthday parties, and that she "cannot remain with a man who consorts with minors" and "is not well". Noemi Letizia, the girl in question, gave interviews to the Italian press, revealing that she calls Berlusconi
papi ('daddy'), that they often spent time together in the past, and that Berlusconi would take care of her career as showgirl or politician, whichever she opted to pursue. Berlusconi claimed that he knew Letizia only through her father and that he never met her alone without her parents. On 14 May, published an article alleging many inconsistencies in Berlusconi's story and asked him to answer ten questions to clarify the situation. Ten days later, Letizia's ex-boyfriend, Luigi Flaminio, claimed that Berlusconi had contacted Letizia personally in October 2008 and said she had spent a week without her parents at Berlusconi's Sardinian villa around New Year's Eve 2009, a fact confirmed later by her mother. On 28 May 2009, Berlusconi said that he had never had "spicy" relations with Letizia, and said that if any such thing had occurred, he would have resigned immediately. On 17 June 2009, Patrizia D'Addario, a 42-year-old escort and retired actress from
Bari, Italy, claimed that she had been recruited twice to spend the evening with Berlusconi. Berlusconi denied any knowledge of D'Addario being a paid escort: "I have never paid a woman... I have never understood what satisfaction there is if the pleasure of conquest is absent." He also accused an unspecified person of manoeuvring and bribing D'Addario. On 26 June 2009, the "ten questions" to Berlusconi were reformulated by , and subsequently republished multiple times. On 28 August 2009, Berlusconi sued , the owner company of the newspaper, and classified the ten questions as "defamatory" and "rhetorical". Berlusconi's lifestyle raised eyebrows in Catholic circles, with vigorous criticism being expressed in particular by
Avvenire, owned by the
Episcopal Conference of Italy. This was followed by the publication in the newspaper
il Giornale (owned by the Berlusconi family) of details with regard to legal proceedings against the editor of
Avvenire, Dino Boffo, which seemed to implicate him for a harassment case against the wife of his ex-partner. Dino Boffo has always declared the details of the proceedings to be false, although he has not denied the basic premise. After a period of tense exchanges and polemics, Boffo resigned from his editorial position on 3 September 2009, and the assistant editor
Marco Tarquinio became editor
ad interim. During a contested episode of
AnnoZero on 1 October 2009, the journalist and presenter
Michele Santoro interviewed Patrizia D'Addario. She stated she was contacted by Giampaolo Tarantini—a businessman from Bari—who already knew her and requested her presence at Palazzo Grazioli with "the President". D'Addario also stated that Berlusconi knew that she was a paid escort.
Shots of Porto Rotondo The attention of the newspapers was later attracted by photos that the photographer
Antonello Zappadu had taken on several occasions; some document a vacation in May 2008 in Berlusconi's summer residence in , where Czech prime minister
Mirek Topolánek appears naked, and during the party young girls in bikinis or topless. On 5 June 2009,
El País published 5 of the 700 photos of the party. On recommendations from Berlusconi, the Rome Prosecutor's Office seized the photographic material for violation of privacy.
Rubygate In November 2010, 17-year-old Moroccan
belly dancer and alleged prostitute Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby Rubacuori, claimed to have been given $10,000 by Berlusconi at parties at his private villas. The girl told prosecutors in Milan that these events were like orgies where Berlusconi and 20 young women performed an African-style ritual known as the "
bunga bunga" in the nude. It was also found out that, on 27 May 2010, El Mahroug had been arrested for theft by the Milan police but (being still a minor) she was directed to a shelter for juvenile offenders. After a couple of hours, while she was being questioned, Berlusconi, who was at the time in Paris, called the head of the police in Milan and pressured for her release, claiming the girl was related to
Hosni Mubarak, then
President of Egypt, and that to avoid a diplomatic crisis, she was to be brought to the custody of
Nicole Minetti. Following repeated telephone calls by Berlusconi to the police authorities, El Mahroug was eventually released and entrusted to Minetti's care. The investigation of Berlusconi for
extortion () and
child prostitution regarding Karima El Mahroug has been referred to as "
Rubygate". MP Gaetano Pecorella proposed to lower the
age of majority in Italy to solve the case. Minetti was known for previous associations with Berlusconi, having danced for
Colorado Cafe, a show on one of
Berlusconi's TV channels, and on
Scorie, an Italian version of
Candid Camera. In November 2009 she became a dental hygienist, and shortly afterward treated Berlusconi for two broken teeth and facial injuries after he was
attacked with a marble statue at a political rally. In February 2010, she was selected as one of the candidates representing Berlusconi's
The People of Freedom party, despite her lack of any political experience, and was seated on the
Regional Council of Lombardy the following month.
The Guardian reported that according to a series of media reports in October 2010, Berlusconi had met El Mahroug, then 17, through Nicole Minetti. Mahroug insisted that she had not slept with the then 74-year-old prime minister. She told Italian newspapers that she merely attended dinner at his mansion near Milan. El Mahroug said she sat next to Berlusconi, who later took her upstairs and gave her an envelope containing €7,000. She said he also gave her jewellery. In January 2011, Berlusconi was placed under criminal investigation relating to El Mahroug for allegedly having sex with an underage prostitute and for abuse of office relating to her release from detention. On 15 February 2011, a judge indicted Berlusconi to stand trial on charges carrying up to 15 years in prison. The fast-track trial opened on 6 April and was adjourned until 31 May. El Mahroug's lawyer said that Mahroug would not be attaching herself to the case as a civil complainant and denies that she ever made herself available for money. Another alleged victim, Giorgia Iafrate, also decided not to be a party to the case. In January 2013, judges rejected an application from Berlusconi's lawyers to have the trial adjourned so that it would not interfere with Italy's
2013 general election in which Berlusconi participated. On 24 June 2013, Berlusconi was found guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and of abusing his office. Berlusconi appealed the sentence In 2020,
Wondery released a podcast about Berlusconi's rise and fall entitled
Bunga Bunga and hosted by comedienne
Whitney Cummings.
Panama Papers In April 2016, the Panama Papers scandal broke out; it was a
leaked set of 11.5 million
confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000
offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider
Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hid their assets from public scrutiny. Berlusconi was cited in the list, along with his long-time partner at
AC Milan,
Adriano Galliani.
Fascism and Mussolini Over the years, Berlusconi has repeatedly made controversial statements about Benito Mussolini: in 1994, he stated that "Fini said that Mussolini, at a certain point in time, was a great statesman. Later, of course, he repressed freedom and led the country into war, so it's clear the final outcome is damning, but for a certain period, Mussolini did do good things, and this is a fact confirmed by history"; in 2003, that "Mussolini's was a much more… benign dictatorship. Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini sent people into exile on holiday"; in 2013, that "The fact of racial laws is the worst fault of a leader, Mussolini, who in many other ways had done well"; and in 2017 that "Mussolini wasn't really a dictator, maybe" (stating immediately after that he was trying to give the newspapers something to attack him for). == Health ==