Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is being investigated for allegedly trying to pressure Italy’s communications watchdog to block state television talk shows critical of his government, a source close to the investigation said yesterday. Italian media have reported that phone taps ordered by prosecutors in the town of Trani showed Mr Berlusconi complained to a member of the Agcom watchdog, which monitors pluralism on television, about some programmes on the state broadcaster RAI, and asked for them to be taken off the air.
One source close to the investigation told Reuters that Mr Berlusconi was formally under investigation for suspected abuse of office. A source in Mr Berlusconi’s office said it had not been informed that he was under investigation. Being under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt, nor that any charges will be brought.
A lawyer for the prime minister, Filiberto Palumbo, told Reuters he had not yet heard from the Trani prosecutors whether Mr Berlusconi, who faces regional elections at the end of this month, was being investigated. Mr Berlusconi said he was “shocked” by reports that his phone had been tapped, accusing the Trani prosecutors of “blatant violations of the law” and denying any wrongdoing. “It is a grotesque intiative. I am not at all worried about the content (of the phone taps) because the prime minister has a right to speak on the phone with anybody without being interecepted,” he told national radio.
(Source: Reuters)
