This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Berlusconi Sentenced To One Year In Prison For Wiretapping

Tyler Durden's picture




 

It is no secret that one of the main reasons why Italy's former PM, and resurgent soon to be member of government, Silvio Berlusconi, is so adamant to be in parliament, is simply to obtain the immunity he would need to stay out of prison as a result of countless lawsuits which he has valiantly fought, and lost. As of this morning, a rather convenient time for sure just as Italy is preparing to create a coalition government, Silvio has one more lawsuit he will need to appeal, and evade in Parliament, following news that he was convicted in a 2006 wiretapping scandal, and will have to serve a one year prison sentence. Will he serve even one day? Of course not - the appeals process alone will take at least several years, and when that runs out, well, the 76 year old Silvio is a billionaire, and will have ample opportunity to spend his money to buy himself enough freedom to last him until the end of his life.

From Bloomberg:

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was convicted in a wiretapping case related to the 2006 battle for control of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA, the first of three corruption rulings he faces this month.

 

The verdict, televised from Milan today, carries a one-year prison sentence. Piero Longo, an Italian senator and one of Berlusconi’s lawyers, had no immediate comment when contacted by phone. Berlusconi can appeal the verdict.

 

The spate of corruption rulings threatens to derail the career of the three-time prime minister, who has dominated Italian politics for two decades. This month a Milan court is set to rule on charges he engaged a minor in prostitution, while another appeals tribunal will decide whether to uphold a four- year sentence for tax fraud. Berlusconi has denied wrongdoing in all the cases.

 

The verdicts come at a time when Berlusconi is set to play a key role in trying to end a political impasse in Italy after inconclusive elections last month produced a hung parliament. President Giorgio Napolitano will begin consultations with Berlusconi and other political leaders aimed at finding a way out of the logjam around March 18, just when the prostitution verdict is due.

In the US wiretapping takes down presidents; in Italy it leads to Bunga Bunga:

In the Unipol case, Milan prosecutors accused Berlusconi of allegedly leaking transcripts of wiretapped phone calls related to a bank takeover fight to Il Giornale, a Milan newspaper owned by his brother Paolo, to discredit a political rival, according to a September 2011 statement by prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati. Paolo Berlusconi was sentenced to two years and three months, Italian newswire Ansa said.

 

When Berlusconi was ordered to stand trial in February 2012, his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini described the accusations as “not credible.”

 

The wiretaps were part of a separate probe in 2005 into whether local bankers broke securities laws in trying to block foreign bids for Italian banks. The recordings, ordered by Milan prosecutors, snared politicians on both sides of the aisle and led to the resignation of two of Italy’s top bankers and Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio.

 

The transcripts refer to calls between Piero Fassino, who formerly headed the Democrats of the Left party, and a banker seeking support for a takeover bid for BNL in 2006. Fassino was recorded during a takeover fight for the bank between Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) and Italy’s Compagnia Assicuratrice Unipol SpA.

In other words, just when Italy was becoming a boring Goldman fiefdom under the Monti tentacles, things are finally looking up if only in terms of entertainment value.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:04 | 3308241 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Not much use of going after Obama either.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:07 | 3308247 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Thats what drones are for.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:15 | 3308275 gold-is-not-dead
gold-is-not-dead's picture

I could take care of Ruby until next year, no prob.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:20 | 3308283 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

Jon Corzine must be laughing his ass off at that rookie.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 11:19 | 3308632 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

Italy loves King Bunga like DC loves Marion Barry.  If you can't elect a criminal almost nobody will be elected

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:51 | 3308320 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

Despite the across the board slandering of Grillo by the "financial & economic experts" of the Krugmanomics/neo-butchering-of-much-of-Keynes-said-posthumously persuasion (such as "The Financial Times" & "The Economist" sirs), much of (but not all) what Grillo says makes a metric ton's worth of Au sense.

In fact, he makes so much sense, that I suspect there really are quite a few serious people at the ECB, The Fed, The BOE & "wise, worldly bodies on all things economic [i.e. the true jackals & predators who try and literally steal the water supply of entire nations when they can - see  Bolivia - Leasing the Rain - as just ONE of many examples - such as the IMF & World Bank] that would, if they can't successfully paint/slander/libel him into non-relevance, and it appears based on Italy's most recent election results that they're failing mightily so far, just may expect him to suffer a "tragic accident" of some sort in the near future.

You don't say the kinds of things Grillo is saying publicly unless you're either a) very bright, yet just  genuinely pissed & patriotic enough to be beyond your "self preservation" mode (in which case he may or may not have some contingency plan), or b)  a spectacular optical illusion empowered by The Money Masters themselves, in some sort of grand strategy to divide and conquer the elecorate based on some very finely tuned electorate map or other malicious and odious plan.

But don't take it from me; Here's Beppe Grillo in his own words, speaking to a capacity crowd, on some pretty elemental issues  - you want to talk about "must see TV?"  This is the real shiznit:

We Can No Longer Tell A Debt From A Credit Thanks To The Fractional Fiat Central Bank Jackals

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 12:30 | 3308926 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

LOL - TIS, you do know that in the shiznit he passes from the fractional reserve banking and debt question to the "from one hole to the other" "gold wisdom of the Sage of Omaha", don't you? ;-)

btw, this is all from before the EUR - he speaks of a saver that wanted to see his 600 million Lira at the bank

and his understanding of economic and monetary matters has not improved, since then, imo

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 13:26 | 3309139 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

I actually viewed that section of his comments many times for the reason you mention.

I don't think he's saying what Buffett is saying at all.  If you carefully dissect his comments, he's saying that gold has absolute and inherent value (he even speaks of many everyday uses of gold for industry - mentioning that it has few, if any, substitutes, in many applications - and commercial segments like obvious ones such as fine jewelry), and that the problem is the manner by which gold is extracted from the ground and horded by the central banks in order to facilitate fractional fiat monetary systemic fraud.

Go back and re-view that portion of his comments, if you wish.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:07 | 3308248 Peter K
Peter K's picture

I would have been surprised if he was acquited.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:18 | 3308280 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

I'll be more surprised if he doesn't win in appeal

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 10:43 | 3308495 schatzi
schatzi's picture

I'd be even more surprised the appeal will be heard before Berlusconi dies of a natural death.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:08 | 3308249 bozzy
bozzy's picture

DSK now Berlu - all VERY convenient. Whose hand do we detect here?

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 11:26 | 3308672 Pizza spaghetti...
Pizza spaghetti and mandolino's picture

That’s indeed right. It is the most spot on comment. Behind there is the Rothschild M&A advisory banking unit.

 Mr. Berlusconi has been sentenced because his brother’s newspaper had published a wiretapping about the acquisition of an Italian bank by Unipol, the insurance company turned bank and controlled by the Democratic Party, PD (Partito Democratico).  This Unipol was inherited by the PD from the Italian Communist Party, PCI. The only evidence is the testimony – at least debatable if not clearly dubious and interested –  of a witness, Mr. Fabrizio Favata, who was bankrupt and had therefore tried to blackmail first Mr. Paolo Berlusconi and then his brother, Silvio. No other substantial material evidence of the former Italian PM participation in the publishing of the wiretapping is indeed available.

As for the Rothschild guess what.

The bank going to be acquired by Mr. Consorte’s Unipol was BNL. The acquisition had been facilitated by Antonio Fazio, the last Chairman of the Bank of Italy not covertly appointed by the Rothschild - Goldman Sachs venture. He had brokered one bank, the Anton Veneta,  to the right wing oriented area (to the BPI not belonging to the Berlusconi’s Mediaset, though), and one, the BNL, to the left wing Unipol. The Rothschild had been left out of the deal and retaliated. Through an unfaithful BPI employee Rothschild gathers a dossier of illegal wiretapping and of criminally smuggled documents to politically motivated judges. The deal brokered in the two directions by Fazio is unwind and the BNL acquisition by Unipol ultimately fails. The BNL is later sold to BNP Parisbas, while the Anton Veneta bank which was to be acquired by the BPI, is ultimately bought by another bank, again historically controlled by the Italian Communist Party, PCI, which had become the Democratic Party, the PD. However this time, things are done properly and the acquiring bank, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, MPS, requests the advisory of the Rothschild M&A advisory banking unit.

The rest is recent history. MPS buys the Anton Veneta bank, whose value was estimated to be only some € 2 to 3  billion, for € 10 billion from Banco de Bilbao, BdB.  Only two months before the BdB had bought the same Anton Veneta for about € 6 B. The bribe is therefore assumed to be possibly up to € 4 B, of which at least € 2 B to the Italian side, the political facilitators. All together it seems the payments related made by MPS for the Anton Veneta bank acquisition were for a total € 17 Billion.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:08 | 3308250 Its_the_economy...
Its_the_economy_stupid's picture
Behind every great fortune there is a crime.
Honore de Balzac
French realist novelist (1799 - 1850)
Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:09 | 3308252 Andrew G
Andrew G's picture

Apparently, Bunga Bunga was too stupid to think of introducing the Patriot Act

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:39 | 3308334 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

Exactly. Italy you go to jail for wiretapping, in usa you get moar funding.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:09 | 3308254 swissaustrian
swissaustrian's picture

There is a law in Italy that allows 75+ year olds to be pardoned, no kidding!

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:13 | 3308257 Its_the_economy...
Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:29 | 3308300 Karl von Bahnhof
Karl von Bahnhof's picture

She is hungarian anyway...

Fri, 03/08/2013 - 04:36 | 3311389 Ar-Pharazôn
Ar-Pharazôn's picture

she's italian too. she's has been member of the parliament and now gets a lifetime pension.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:13 | 3308258 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

It was a quaint America when wiretapping was a crime.  Now they can wiretap you, read all your emails, throw you into prison for life without charge and even send a predator drone after you - all to protect you in the war on terror.

Can you even imagine Obama going to prison for wiretapping?  He would get a million years. Holder would get two million.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:12 | 3308264 ziggy59
ziggy59's picture

LOL... GS, is that the best you can do to your competition??

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:13 | 3308265 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Wiretapping is illegal in Italy? It looks like they have one up on us.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:13 | 3308267 ParkAveFlasher
ParkAveFlasher's picture

This plus yesterday's "suicide" = COUP IN PROGRESS

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:15 | 3308272 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Wow. Prospects just got even better for the Commedian. ( Beppe Grillo)

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:16 | 3308276 Grimbert
Grimbert's picture

Telegraph says over-75 year olds with sentences of <2 years don't serve their sentence

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/silvio-berlusconi/9914962/Silvio-Berlusconi-sentenced-to-year-in-prison.html

 

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:17 | 3308278 bozzy
bozzy's picture

Bad Tempeed Catalunya next up for a lesson in uppity-control - drones mid atlantic as we write no doubt.... hope all this noisy unrest does not spread to my neck of the woods, I'm trying to sleep through the next four years.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:28 | 3308297 Hobbleknee
Hobbleknee's picture

"In the US wiretapping takes down presidents"

Not anymore.  When was the last time a politician went to jail for anything?

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:35 | 3308301 El Hosel
El Hosel's picture

Yeah, but what did he get for tapping that 15 year old? If he wins the "erection" over there does that come with the get out of jail free card?

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 10:33 | 3308460 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Jesse Jackson Jr...a couple weeks ago.

Tue, 03/12/2013 - 06:44 | 3321761 Hobbleknee
Hobbleknee's picture

Has he gone to jail?  I don't think so.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:31 | 3308306 MFLTucson
MFLTucson's picture

He needs a post in the US goverment where wiretapping is not only legal but the preferred way to spy on every citizen!

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:37 | 3308326 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

When an election doesn't go the way you want, what better way to change things than to jail a competitor?

In an age of the panopticon the idea of Berlusconi wiretapping someone seems quaint, not criminal.

 

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:48 | 3308362 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Bingo.  Full frontal fascism.  You won't play along, you are eliminated.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:50 | 3308369 awakening
awakening's picture

Truly we all live in dangerous times; for we have not a Rule of Law as none are equal before the Law (such is the pathetic fact of the 21st century that knows no borders).

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 09:55 | 3308386 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Prison... just the place to socialize with like minded people and brush up on your criminality skills.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 12:35 | 3308941 medium giraffe
medium giraffe's picture

You can't fool us, we've all seen Goodfellas.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 10:36 | 3308465 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Vai e fottiti, puttana!

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 12:51 | 3309013 Things that go bump
Things that go bump's picture

Oh my God - He's Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 13:05 | 3309044 medium giraffe
medium giraffe's picture

You could be right, Things that go bump, it does sound a lot like someone opened up an Infinite Improbability drive somewhere in Italy.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!