Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: impunity time (bell'articolo di the economist)

LAUGH or cry? On March 1st Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet approved an
anti-corruption bill just two days after the resumption of the prime
minister’s trial for allegedly bribing a court witness.
David Mills, the British lawyer who was the witness, had already been
convicted of accepting a $600,000 bribe. Mr Mills took the money for
withholding evidence at two trials in the 1990s in which his client
was a defendant. But on February 25th his offence was extinguished by
Italy’s highest appeal court. The judges decided it had been committed
three months earlier than previously reckoned and was thus covered by
a statute of limitations. The time limit had been shortened by Mr
Berlusconi’s previous government, one of several measures pushed
through that make it exceptionally hard to secure a conclusive
conviction for any white-collar crime in Italy.
The shortened time limit makes it highly unlikely that the prime
minister’s own trial will be completed before proceedings are halted.
But that may not be true of a second trial, in which Mr Berlusconi is
accused of tax fraud. In this case, his strategy of delay is to insist
on his right to be in court for every hearing, only to cite a
“legitimate impediment” (ie, government business) that stops him
attending. The latest excuse was the cabinet meeting to approve the
anti-corruption bill: it was rescheduled from a week previously, even
though the judges had scrapped three other hearings to make possible
the one on March 1st. When they went ahead without Mr Berlusconi, his
lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, threatened to go to the constitutional court
over an alleged conflict between the executive and judicial powers. Mr
Ghedini, who is a deputy for Mr Berlusconi’s party, has helped to
prepare draft legislation to make it easier for ministers to cite
government duties to delay their trials.
The anti-corruption bill would ban anyone convicted of graft from
standing for office locally and perhaps nationally for five years (the
text is not finalised). It would set up a watchdog body to monitor
corruption in the public sector. The bill was cobbled together after a
scandal over big government contracts. New evidence suggests the
businessmen who benefited had allies in the intelligence services,
police, judiciary and parliament.
In the past few weeks other cases have emerged, giving an impression
of a country awash with graft and skulduggery. The biggest, a €2
billion ($2.7 billion) international tax-evasion and money-laundering
scam, led to the resignation on March 3rd of one of Mr Berlusconi’s
lawmakers, who denies being elected fraudulently with help from
organised crime in Calabria.
With regional elections due later this month, the government needs to
be seen to be doing something about corruption, for two reasons.
First, Mr Berlusconi has no convenient excuse for it. He may have
persuaded many Italians that his legal difficulties are the result of
a conspiracy by left-wing prosecutors and judges. But this scarcely
explains the latest inquiries into corruption.
Second, tales of shady entrepreneurs pocketing taxpayers’ money and
paying for public servants to visit prostitutes may shock Italians
more than the often abstruse financial accusations levelled at Mr
Berlusconi (most of which, including the alleged bribery of Mr Mills,
concern his activities out of office). And although none of the latest
scandals directly involves the prime minister, they suggest that
corruption has become rife on his watch. That may not be a surprise
given the impunity that Mr Berlusconi’s governments have extended to
so many crooks in suits.

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Bell'articolo, fonte?

 - Mostra testo citato -
Scusa, stavo dormendo: economist, chiaro! :o)

 Scusa, stavo dormendo: economist, chiaro! :o)-
per la serie non c'è due senza tre ;-)

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THE ECONOMIST e' la Bibbia dei Conservatori e della gente della destra
liberale ( oh, niente a che vedee con fascistoidi e piduisti !) di
mezzo mondo.
E' il magazine che piu' si e0' sempre sentito offeso dall'usurpazione
del nome di "destra" fatto dalla mafia e dalla Ndrangheta italiana,
dalla P2 e da Berlusconi Silvio.
Ma TUTTI I GIORNALI STRANIERI riportano con sarcastico disprezzo per
l'Italia, la fine del processo MILLS che non va in galera granzie a
una legge fatta dal suo corruttore Berlusconi che ha tagliato i tempi
di prescrizione.

 di prescrizione.
beh quest'articolo va un pò oltre