Training | 2009.10.27
Court rejects Mills bribe case appeal
Judges turn down first of two appeals permitted to husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell
David Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, today suffered a further setback in his legal battle in Italy, after judges turned down the first of two appeals he is permitted under Italian law.
Earlier this year, Mills was given a four and a half-year sentence for allegedly accepting a bribe from the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. He was also ordered to pay a penalty of €250,000 (£227,000).
Mills was found guilty of taking $600,000 (£366,000) to alter his testimony in Berlusconi\'s favour in two trials during the 1990s.
The case will now go to Italy\'s highest appeals court, which will have until early next year to hear the second appeal.
But unless the court moves swiftly, the case will be "timed out" by a statute of limitations.
It is also possible that, if definitively convicted, he would benefit from an amnesty passed by the previous Italian government.
Reacting to the decision, Mills told the Guardian: "My faith is the Italian justice system is becoming a trifle strained.
"But I am sure that, when the case gets to the supreme court in Rome in the new year, the supreme court, which guards Italy\'s legal reputation, will deliver a fair verdict."
Today\'s ruling has important implications for Berlusconi, who is already under pressure following a string of sex scandals.
The only reason that he is no longer a defendant in the case is that he provided himself with immunity from trial last year.
Earlier this month, his immunity was scrapped by the constitutional court and he now faces a retrial.
Mills was formerly Berlusconi\'s offshore legal adviser, helping the TV magnate turned politician construct a network of firms through which he channelled sizeable volumes of cash.
Since the prosecution has been unable to prove that Berlusconi was the source of the money Mills received in February 2000, its case rests largely, if not entirely, on the British lawyer\'s admission to investigators that it was a payment for his help in the two 1990s trials.
Mills made his statement after being presented with a letter he had written to his accountant which said the cash was for keeping "Mr B out of a great deal of trouble he would have been in had I said all I knew".
However, he later withdrew his admission and produced evidence which, his counsel says, proves the money came from a Neapolitan ship owner.
Mills\'s lawyers have also argued that, even if the cash had come from Berlusconi, any offence would already be subject to a statute of limitations.
The time limit for bribery is 10 years. Mills is alleged to have been promised the money by one of Berlusconi\'s executives in 1999 at the latest.
Neither argument seems to have won favour with the appeal judges, but they are expected to provide a detailed written account of their reasoning within 15 days.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct[...]mills-appeal-silvio-berlusconi
