Silvio Berlusconi ally 'flees abroad' ahead of mafia verdict

Marcello Dell’Utri, 72, who co-founded Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party with him in the early 1990s and became a senator in the party, was suspected of fleeing to Beirut before heading for Africa. Prosecutors have alerted Interpol.

News of his escape from Italian justice came one day after Berlusconi appeared closer to paying his debt to society, as prosecutors prepared to order him to a year of working with the elderly or disabled following his tax fraud conviction.

Sicilian born Mr Dell’Utri has been on trial for acting as a middle man between the Sicilian mafia and Milan companies, including those controlled by Mr Berlusconi, who has not faced charges.

In the 1970s he introduced Mr Berlusconi to Vittorio Mangano who was hired as a stable man at Berlusconi’s villa near Milan.

Suspicions were raised about possible deals between Mr Berlusconi and Cosa Nostra after Mr Berlusconi’s coalition won all of Sicily’s 61 parliamentary seats in the 2001 elections.

Both Mr Berlusconi and Mr Dell’Utri have denied links to the mafia.

The close friendship between the two men was revealed by a 1986 wiretapped phonecall in which Mr Berlusconi complains to Mr Dell’Utri that they had been stood up on a date by two showgirls from one of his TV shows. “We’ll never have sex again”, complained Mr Berlusconi.

Sentenced to seven years last year, Mr Dell’Utri remained at liberty as he awaited the confirmation of his sentence by Italy’s supreme court, which is expected on Tuesday.

In a statement issued through his lawyer on Friday, Mr Dell Utri claimed he was overseas to obtain medical treatment and was not attempting to give Italian justice the slip.

But he did not reveal where he was or whether he would return for his verdict.

“Where is Dell’Utri? Only he knows,” said Mr Dell’Utri’s lawyer Pino Di Peri on Friday. “I think he will reflect on what to do when the Supreme Court verdict comes in,” he added.

Prosecutors started hunting for Mr Dell’Utri after suspicions grew he was planning to flee Italy. His brother Alberto was wiretapped in November claiming Mr Dell’Utri had lunched in Rome with an important Lebanese politician and was planning to go there. Prosecutors also said Mr Dell’Utri’s cell phone had been traced to Beirut on April 3.

Alberto Dell’Utri was also overhead claiming his brother had secured a diplomatic passport from Guinea Bissau.

Mr Dell’Utri was declared a fugitive on April 8, police said on Friday, after an arrest warrant had been issued and no trace of him found in Italy.

Faced with the pending verdict, Mr Dell’Utri said last March, “I will never flee, I would rather face prison with head high.”

But in September he said, “Am I ready for jail? Like hell, I hope not to go.

But I have been psychologically prepared for a lifetime. You just need to pack a bag, take two books and off you go.”