Italy highest court says Berlusconi company must pay huge fine

PanARMENIAN.Net - Italy’s highest court has upheld a ruling that Silvio Berlusconi’s family investment company must pay a huge fine for corruption, but gave it a slight discount on the half a billion euro judgment, the Associated Press reported.

The Court of Cassation on Tuesday, Sept 17, rejected most of Fininvest’s objections to lower courts’ rulings against it for corruption in the purchase of the Mondadori publishing house, a key step in the creation of Berlusconi’s media empire in the 1990s.

An appeals court had awarded a rival media company 564 million euros — down from an initial 750 million euros. But the high court lowered damages to 541 million euros ($722 million).

Berlusconi is fighting efforts in the Senate to remove him from office after his tax fraud conviction, threatening the stability of Italy’s uneasy coalition government.