A 2.8-million-euro loan given to
bankrupt talent scout and TV impresario Lele Mora in 2010 was a
one-off "act of generosity", ex-premier and media magnate Silvio
Berlusconi told a Milan court Monday.
"I had nothing more to do with it," said Berlusconi.
The three-time premier was testifying in the bankruptcy trial
of former Berlusconi TV channel news anchor Emilio Fede.
In October Mora plea-bargained a prison sentence of one
year and six months in connection with a case regarding the
bankruptcy of one of his companies and the loan given to the
manager by Berlusconi.
According to prosecutors, Berlusconi in 2010 lent the money
to Mora through an assistant, manager Giorgio Spinelli, but Mora
did not use it to salvage his ailing company, Lm Management.
In the ongoing trial, state prosecutors allege that part of
Berlusconi's money went to Fede, longtime former head of news at
Rete Quattro, the smallest of Berlusconi's three terrestrial TV
channels.
During his term as news chief, Fede was noted for the
positive spin he gave to news about his boss.
In 2014 Mora was given a six-year prison sentence for
pimping on behalf of the three-time premier and media mogul,
together with Fede and a dental assistant-turned-politician,
Nicole Minetti, and for the bankruptcy of his Lm Management.
After the plea-bargain deal requested by Mora's attorneys
and prosecutor Eugenio Fusco and ratified by judge Donatella
Banci Buonamici in October, Mora was set to serve the two prison
sentences with community service.
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