Berlusconi and Switzerland: Blocked funds and tax irritations Ex-Scottish Prime Minister Sturgeon briefly arrested

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also kept Switzerland busy with his many affairs and scandals. The federal prosecutor’s office blocked millions of amounts in the Mediaset affair involving the media group of the TV czar. He also resented tax promises.

In 2012, Berlusconi was sentenced at first instance to four years in prison in the Mediaset affair. He was released from three. Following the Supreme Court acquittal of two remaining defendants, in 2016 the federal prosecutor’s office released $140 million that had been blocked in Swiss accounts.

Berlusconi’s Mediaset group was accused of buying film rights at high prices in order to deposit black money in secret bank accounts. According to the indictment, Mediaset had set up a complex network of offshore companies to hide the transactions.

Tracks also led to Switzerland. The public prosecutor of Milan first requested legal assistance from Switzerland in 1996. In the years that followed, another twenty requests for legal assistance were made to Switzerland.

In 2005, the federal prosecutor’s office opened its own investigation into money laundering. However, the proceedings were stopped in September 2011. Most of the charges were time-barred.

Uncertainty about tax treaties

An agreement to avoid double taxation with Italy was also delayed in 2013 due to Berlusconi’s election promises. At the time, the TV entrepreneur promised the abolition of an unpopular property tax and a tax amnesty. According to him, Switzerland should have transferred about 20 billion euros to Italy in a first step and then 5 billion euros a year.

Then Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf described the entry into force of the agreement, then being negotiated, as difficult in 2015. It was finally signed in 2015, but not with a government under Berlusconi. (aeg/sda)