Italian police today disclosed an attempt to extort former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi by bandits who held his accountant hostage and offered to sell sensitive documents for 35 million euros ($44.47 million).
Police told a news conference in Milan they had arrested three Italians and three Albanians on suspicion of kidnapping and extortion.
Armed assailants held Giuseppe Spinelli and his wife hostage at their home overnight on October 15, police said, and demanded money in exchange for documents they said could help Berlusconi win an appeals trial.
“The couple were taken from their home and abducted for the entire night that fell between October 15-16, and Mr Spinelli practically became the spokesman of the bandits to Mr Berlusconi, giving their offer that in exchange for 35 million euro, documents said to be able to achieve a positive outcome in the appeals hearing for the Mondadori trial,” said head of the investigation, police officer Alessandro Giuliano.
The aggressors said the papers could overturn a 2011 court ruling that forced Berlusconi’s Fininvest empire to pay 560 million euros to rival media company CIR in compensation for a takeover battle over publisher Mondadori that was marred by corruption.
The extortionists forced Spinelli to call Berlusconi on the morning of October 16 and tell him about the documents. They then left and Spinelli was collected by members of Berlusconi’s staff. No money was paid to the assailants, police said.
The authorities were not informed until more than 24 hours later, when Berlusconi’s lawyers filed a complaint.
In an investigation that was kept secret for more than a month police used closed circuit television footage to track down the extortionists.
Spinelli, an accountant in charge of Berlusconi’s finances, paid showgirls to attend the media mogul’s infamous “bunga bunga” parties, according to testimony he gave an Italian court.