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Italian Senate committee likely to start Berlusconi expulsion process
Source: Reuters
Italian Senate committee likely to start Berlusconi expulsion process
By James Mackenzie
ROME | Thu Oct 3, 2013 8:12pm EDT
(Reuters) - An Italian Senate committee is likely to start a process on Friday to expel Silvio Berlusconi from parliament following his conviction for tax fraud, meaning the former prime minister's fate could be sealed within weeks.
Berlusconi, who has dominated Italian politics for two decades, brushed off suggestions that his parliamentary career might soon be over after the conviction and an aborted attempt to topple the government.
"I think this is the result of a well constructed plan to remove the leader of the center-right," said the 77-year-old billionaire. "This is a political sentence, based on nothing at all."
Berlusconi is not expected to attend Friday's hearing, which opens at 9.30 am (0730 GMT) and is likely to finish the same day. If the committee, which is dominated by Berlusconi's adversaries, votes to strip him of his Senate seat, the judgment will have to be confirmed by a full vote of the upper house, around two weeks later.
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By James Mackenzie
ROME | Thu Oct 3, 2013 8:12pm EDT
(Reuters) - An Italian Senate committee is likely to start a process on Friday to expel Silvio Berlusconi from parliament following his conviction for tax fraud, meaning the former prime minister's fate could be sealed within weeks.
Berlusconi, who has dominated Italian politics for two decades, brushed off suggestions that his parliamentary career might soon be over after the conviction and an aborted attempt to topple the government.
"I think this is the result of a well constructed plan to remove the leader of the center-right," said the 77-year-old billionaire. "This is a political sentence, based on nothing at all."
Berlusconi is not expected to attend Friday's hearing, which opens at 9.30 am (0730 GMT) and is likely to finish the same day. If the committee, which is dominated by Berlusconi's adversaries, votes to strip him of his Senate seat, the judgment will have to be confirmed by a full vote of the upper house, around two weeks later.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/04/us-italy-berlusconi-idUSBRE99215T20131004