ROME — An Italian court accused former premier Silvio Berlusconi and his lawyers on Friday of tampering with evidence by paying off witnesses in a trial related to his notorious ‘‘bunga bunga’’ parties.
It sent documentation to prosecutors to investigate the possible corruption of a judicial process. Berlusconi’s lawyers immediately rejected the accusation and said they expected prosecutors would drop the case.
If prosecutors go ahead, the accusation in the court’s ruling would lead to a new headache for Berlusconi, who this week was kicked out of Parliament for at least six years because of a tax fraud conviction.
The court suggested that Berlusconi paid off the would-be show girls who attended his dinner parties to downplay the sexually charged nature of the evenings when they testified. He did so, the judges suggested, because he was facing related charges in another case involving accusations he paid for sex with an underage prostitute who was also a ‘‘bunga bunga’’ guest.
Advertisement