A Rome appeals court on Friday
acquitted former industry minister Claudio Scajola of illicit
funding because the crime has timed out.
A member of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of
Freedom (PdL) party, Scajola was forced to resign when he was
indicted on charges related to a shady real-estate deal
involving an expensive home with a view on Rome's iconic
Colosseum.
Prosecutors had originally asked that Scajola and his
co-defendant in the case, businessman Diego Anemone, be given
three-year jail sentences and fined two million euros each on
charges of illicit funding.
The judge cleared Scajola, saying his assertion that
Anemone had paid for most of the flat for him without his
knowledge was credible.
The property was allegedly bought by Anemone, who is said
to have paid 1.1 million euros of a total of 1.7 million euros
through architect Angelo Zampolini for the purchase, as well as
paying 100,000 euros for renovations.
The case was part of a broader investigation into alleged
illegal activities by Anemone that emerged following the 2009
Group of Eight (G8) summit in Italy.
The meeting of G8 international leaders was initially
scheduled to be held in La Maddalena in Sardinia before being
moved to the earthquake-stricken town of L'Aquila.
The case against Anemone was timed out by the statute of
limitations.
Scajola is currently under house arrest for allegedly
helping Amedeo Matacena, a fugitive former MP for ex-premier
Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party who has been
convicted of Mafia links.
A 66-year-old former government programme, interior and
industry minister under separate Berlusconi governments, Scajola
is accused of trying to help transfer Matacena from Dubai to
Lebanon, from where it is allegedly more difficult to obtain an
extradition.
Matacena's wife Chiara Rizzo and right-hand man Martino
Politi face identical charges.
The pair are also believed to have tried to conceal
Matacena's assets to prevent them from being seized.
Matacena announced in June that he would return to Italy
from Dubai to serve his time in order to give his children
"their mother back", but so far has not come back.
Scajola was also forced to resign as interior minister from
a previous Berlusconi government in July 2002 after sparking
controversy by making derogatory remarks about slain labor
ministry aide Marco Biagi.
Biagi was gunned down the previous March by the Red
Brigades after being denied a police escort by Scajola.
In off-the-cuff remarks, Scajola said Biagi had been a
"pain in the a**" and that had Biagi been given an escort "three
people would have been killed instead of one".
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