An investigation has been opened here to determine whether Premier Silvio Berlusconi made slanderous remarks about Italian cooperatives and the national association of cooperatives, Legacoop, judicial sources said here on Friday.
The probe was opened after Legacoop filed a suit against Berlusconi for statements he made on TV talkshows last week alleging that certain cooperatives and Legacoop were in cahoots with the Naples crime syndicate Camorra.
According to Berlusconi, "something was rotten" in Naples where in 1995 left-leaning magistrates had covered up ties between the cooperatives and the Camorra, given that cooperatives traditionally support the left.
Berlusconi claimed that a trial dealing with Camorra financing of cooperatives was never concluded because the magistrates had arranged it so that the statue of limitations would kick in.
He added that court documents showed "without a doubt" that the Camorra had financed the cooperatives.
In their suit, Legacoop recalled that it and its members had won a full acquittal in the trial in Naples which the premier had referred to, as well as the appeals trial which followed.
Furthermore, those who had been arrested received an apology from the state and those held in custody were paid compensation for the time they spent in prison.
In fact, Legacoop added, it was the court's opinion that the cooperatives were an injured party in the trial because of false statements made by Camorra turncoats on which the case was based. The prosecutor's office here said it would ask Naples for complete judicial documents pertaining to the 1995 trial. Berlusconi brushed off report that he was under investigation and told the press that Legacoop was "only trying to save face".
He added that he has received no formal notification that he was under investigation.
