Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: X CHI SA L'INGLESE

Jowell's husband left isolated over tax evasion case
From Richard Owen in Rome, and Sam Coates
TESSA JOWELL'S husband, who faces a corruption trial in Italy alongside
Silvio Berlusconi, has been cut loose by the Italian Prime Minister, who
last night accused him of tax avoidance.
Prosecutors in Milan are deciding whether to charge David Mills, a lawyer,
and the Italian leader over allegations that he accepted £350,000 from
Signor Berlusconi to "protect" the Prime Minister in two trials in 1997 and
1998.
Over the weekend the husband of the UK Culture Secretary said that Italian
prosecutors had forced a false confession out of him. After a ten-hour
interrogation involving "very, very harsh tactics", he signed a statement
that said he had "protected Berlusconi in various trials and investigations"
.
            He said that the case against him was "unfounded and absolutely
without proof" and was timed to influence the April 9 election.
            Mr Mills told The Sunday Telegraph of his desperation at being
accused of taking bribes from Signor Berlusconi. Prosecutors want to know
why he received £350,000 in October 1999 through Torrey Global, an offshore
fund. Mr Mills went to see Italian prosecutors in July 2004, where he says
he was forced to sign the statement after they showed him a letter, printed
in Italian newspapers this weekend. In the letter to his accountant he
admitted receiving money from "the B people", which he was told to treat as
a "long-term loan or gift". The letter, dated February 2004, said that he
had "kept Mr B out of a great deal of trouble that I would have landed him
in if I had said all I knew". He had "told no lies but turned some very
tricky corners".
            He said that he was told he would receive money, "which I could
treat as a long-term loan or a gift. $600,000 was put in a hedge fund and I
was told it would be there if I needed it." In the confession, he is quoted
as saying he had tried to protect Signor Berlusconi "as much as I could, and
to keep wherever possible a certain discreetness over the operations I had
carried out for him".
            He said that the money had been arranged by Carlo Bernasconi, an
executive at Fininvest, the parent of Signor Berlusconi's empire, who died
in 2001.
            Mr Mills said this weekend: "They were very, very hostile. At
the end of ten hours they asked me again, and I simply said, 'Write
something down and I will sign it'. I look at myself in the mirror and I
say, 'You are a complete idiot, but you are not a crook'."
            In November 2004 Mr Mills withdrew the confession. He said that
he has demonstrated that he received the money from Diego Attanasio, a
Naples shipping magnate, rather than from Signor Berlusconi. Mr Mills said
that his letter to his accountant outlined an "imaginary scenario" for tax
advice.
            Signor Attanasio has denied transferring the money to a Swiss
account to which Mr Mills was a signatory. Fabio De Pasquale, one of the
prosecutors, said: "Mr Mills's testimony was given freely. His defence
lawyer was present throughout." Mr Mills spoke fluent Italian, so there was
"no question of putting words in his mouth".
            THE ITALIAN CONNECTION
            a.. In the 1990s David Mills acted as legal adviser to Signor
Berlusconi during the acquisition of Mediaset. The prosecution claims that
Signor Berlusconi set up a scheme that helped him to evade more than £40
million in tax
            a.. During the Mediaset investigation, prosecutors found
evidence that they say shows Mr Mills received undeclared income, allegedly
rewarding him for giving false testimony to get Signor Berlusconi off the
hook in earlier trials in 1997 and 1998
            a.. On July 28, 2004, Mr Mills voluntarily met Italian
prosecutors over a 1999 payment for £350,000 from an offshore fund called
Torrey Global. He says he was forced to write a confession
                  a.. On February 10, Scotland Yard searched Mr Mills'
offices
                  a.. On February 16, Milan magistrates finished their
investigation into Signor Berlusconi, Mr Mills and 12 others. Signor
Berlusconi's lawyers now have 20 days to ask for more details to be included
in the case or for more questioning. Charges are expected to follow
                  WHAT HE WROTE
                  An edited extract of a letter from David Mills to Bob
Drennan dated 2 February, 2004:
                  "In 1996 I ended up with a dividend from Mr B's companies
of around £2.5 million. I kept just under £500,000 of what was then getting
on for £2m. So, all that risk and cost for not very much.
                  I kept in close touch with the B people, and they knew . .
. how much the way in which I had been able to give my evidence (I told no
lies, but I turned some very tricky corners, to put it mildly) had kept Mr B
out of a great deal of trouble that I would have landed him in if I had said
all I knew.
                  At around the end of 1999, I was told I would receive
money, which I could treat as a long-term loan or a gift. $600,000 was put
in a hedge fund and I was told it would be there if I needed it. I regarded
the payment as a gift. What else could it be?
                  Statement to prosecutors in Milan, July 2004:
                  "I have not said anything false, but I tried to protect
him as much as I could and to keep wherever possible a certain discreetness
over the operations I had carried out for him. It was in this respect that
in autumn 1999, Carlo Bernasconi, who it displeases me to involve in this
because I always regarded him as my friend, told me that Silvio Berlusconi,
in recognition for the way I had protected him in various trials and
investigations, had decided to put a sum of money my way"
                  In a memorandum to the prosecutors in November 2004 he
changed his story, claiming he had been asked to look after the sum on
behalf of a client, the shipping magnate Diego Attanasio


  Di questo potrei parlare all'infinito, ma odio Leopardi e tutti i poeti da
pelliccia.
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://arianna.libero.it/usenet/

1998.
Che significa che stanno ancora "deciding over allegations"?
Luciano
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