An Italian judge has ordered ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering in television rights deals between 1994 and 1999. The allegations arise out of Mediaset, Berlusconi's broadcast company.
The judge's decision wrapped up a four year investigation into the allegations by Italian prosecutors.
Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing and pled not guilty to the charges against him.
His lawyer was not shocked by the court's decision. 'It was a predictable decision, considering the previous hearings in Milan,' said Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini. 'They haven't allowed crucial witnesses for the defense to be heard,' he added.
Berlusconi will have 13 co-defendants in the case including British lawyer David Mills, the husband of a British government minister.
Prosecutors allege that a U.S. firm sold television and cinema rights to two offshore firms controlled by a Berlusconi family holding, Fininvest.
The offshore firms then allegedly inflated the prices and sold them to Mediaset, controlled by Fininvest, to avoid Italian taxes and create a slush fund.
Prosecutors in Milan also have accused the ex-prime minister of paying Mills, the estranged husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, a kickback of $600,000 for not revealing details of his media empire when Mills testified in two court cases. Mills has also denied wrongdoing.
Berlusconi lost an election in April to end his term in office. He has already been convicted of graft four times although the verdicts have been overturned on appeal or on legal technicalities.
The latest trial is scheduled to begin November 21.
