Anti-Telephone Tapping Law Bugs Berlusconi

Despite Berlusconi’s somewhat indecent haste with regard to pushing through a new law which will just about ban telephone tapping by Italian law enforcement agencies, except in a limited number of cases, Italy’s occasionally publicity shy prime minister’s plans have been temporarily scuppered.

By whom? Actually by his very own government, which is pushing through so many laws at the moment, that Fini, the leader of the Italian house of commons, apparently told Mr B that there was little hope of pushing though the anti-bugging law before the Italian parliament’s summer recess.

Just to pour a little more salt on Berlusco’s already bleeding wounds, some mischievous type has placed what is claimed to be a fake telephone tapping transcript on the good old web.  This apparently defamatory text concerns a conversation which never took place between Berlusco and Mediaset president Fedele Confalonieri, according to Niccolo’ Ghedini, who is Mr B’s cabinet colleague and chief defence lawyer.

Actual details of the fake transcript are hard to come by alas, but I’m sure something will surface sooner or later.

Mediaset is, or rather was, one of Berlusconi’s companies.  Belusco relinquished control of Mediaset after becoming prime minister; at least on paper; after he was showered with allegations of conflicts of interest.

Political things in Italy are smouldering away, fuelled, no doubt, by the searing heat of the Italian summer. Talk about ‘solar power’.