The board of Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest on Friday said it had decided to challenge "in all competent fora", including the European Court of Justice, the European Central Bank's decision on its stake in Banca Mediolanum and had filed two appeals against the Bank of Italy", one at the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) of Lazio and the other at the Council of State. On Wednesday it emerged that the ECB was against Fininvest taking back full control of a 30% stake in Mediolanum because of the "reputational profile" of Berlusconi. The ECB said it opposes Fininvest owning a "significant stake" in the Banca Mediolanum bank.
The ECB decision came in the wake of an administrative procedure by the Bank of Italy. The Italian central bank in October 2014 ordered Fininvest to sell 20% of Mediolanum holdings as the three-time prime minister could no longer own more than 10% of a financial company following a tax-fraud conviction. The Council of State, Italy's top administrative court, in December 2015 ruled in favor of Fininvest's case to suspend the forced sale.
Such a sale would have left Fininvest with a stake of 9.9% in Mediolanum, which is controlled by the Doris family.
A statement released by Berlusconi's holding on Wednesday said Fininvest questioned the decision and "will preserve its rights and interests with the utmost energy and determination" at a national and European level.
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