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February 25th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The alleged bribe for the offshore tax expert was $600,000 (445,000 euros).
Mills was tried in absentia, convicted in February 2009 and sentenced to four
and a half years in prison. The verdict was upheld later that year.
The case against Mills however expired in 2010, although judges stressed that
they believed he was guilty of an act of “very serious” corruption.
Berlusconi has done everything to put off a verdict in the Mills case,
including a last-minute appeal from his lawyers that the case be thrown out
because the judges had refused to listen to all the defence witnesses.
The appeal was rejected but Berlusconi on Friday went back on the offensive.
“The Mills trial is just one of numerous invented proceedings against me.
In total, more than 100 legal procedures, over 900 prosecutors have busied
themselves with me and with my company,” Berlusconi said in a statement.
“Two thousand six hundred hearings in 14 years, more than 400 million
euros in fees for lawyers and consultants – these are impressive records not
just on a global level but on a universal level, on a solar system level,”
he said.
Berlusconi in particular criticised the prosecution’s “incredible thesis”
that the crime was committed not when the money was allegedly given to the
lawyer but when the lawyer began spending it two years later.
This, he said, was done so as to ensure the case did not expire.
Angelino Alfano, leader of the People of Freedom party founded by Berlusconi
and a former justice minister, said: “This is a useless verdict.”
“We feel bitterness since everyone who has ever dealt with justice always
says the same thing: we should not be wasting time with dead cases,” he
said in a reference to cases that are close to the statute of limitations.
Berlusconi’s defence says the case has already expired, while prosecutors say
it still has a few months left. Judges are expected to clarify the issue.
A conviction “would be a major blow to his prestige nationally and
internationally”, James Walston, a professor at the American University
in Rome, said earlier, adding however: “He’s not going to jail.”
Berlusconi has been struggling with the law ever since entering political life
in 1993 with his “Forza Italia” (“Go Italy”) party.
Berlusconi was convicted three times in 1997 and 1998 for corruption, false
accounting and illicit financing of a political party. But the convictions
were all either overturned on appeal or expired under the statute of
limitations.
He is also on trial for sex with an under age prostitute and abuse of power,
for tax fraud and for violating official secrets.
Even if he escapes prison in the bribery case, observers say that a guilty
sentence may weaken his rumoured ambitions to run for the presidency next
year.
“This would just be one of the many reasons that he would be an
unsuitable candidate,” Walston said.
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