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Berlusconi notified of actress graft probe

FORMER Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been notified that he is under investigation for corruption over the hiring of soap opera actresses, Italian judicial sources said.

Prosecutors in Naples suspect that Mr Berlusconi, Italy’s richest man, bribed the head of Italian state television’s soap opera department to offer roles to several actresses, the sources said on Wednesday.

One of Mr Berlusconi’s lawyers confirmed the prosecutors’ notification process. ‘From what we have read so far there is no evidence of criminal activity,’ the lawyer said.

Mr Berlusconi dismissed a newspaper report about the alleged incidents as ‘pure invention’ earlier this month.

The 71-year-old, who owns three private TV channels via his Mediaset business, has been through various bribery and fraud trials and has always been acquitted or the statute of limitations has applied.

The prosecutors, instead of opting to drop the case against Mr Berlusconi, closed their investigation in recent days, a formal step that usually proceeds a request to go to trial, said the sources who asked not to be named.

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