Giordy71@
00domenica 15 aprile 2012 22:48
An associate of former premier Silvio Berlusconi was taken to prison in Naples on Monday after returning to Italy from Argentina and informed that he may face additional charges on top of the crimes he was already wanted for.
Valter Lavitola, who had been living for six month in South America as a fugitive of Italian justice, was wanted in relation to investigations into the alleged involvement of prostitutes at parties at Berlusconi's homes.
Upon ending his exile he was told that he is also being investigated for alleged corruption with Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and his government regarding contracts for the construction of prisons in the central American country.
Lavitola, the former editor of daily newspaper L'Avanti!, was told he is also being probed for criminal association related to the use of public funds for the media along with several other people, including Sergio De Gregorio, a Senator with Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party. Prosecutors have sent a request to the Senate for De Gregorio to be put under House arrest. "I'll defend myself tooth and nail," De Gregorio told ANSA.
In regard to the case linked to the parties at Berlusconi's homes in Rome, Sardinia and at Arcore outside Milan, Lavitola is suspected of giving false testimony and of inducing Bari businessman Giampaolo Tarantini to lie to magistrates about the role the latter allegedly played in supplying prostitutes.