ROME, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's daughter Marina, head of his holding company Fininvest, said in an interview that a court order to pay 750 million euros ($1.1 billion) in damages to a rival put the company at risk.
A week ago a Milan court ruled that Fininvest, which owns 38.6 percent of Italy's largest private broadcaster Mediaset, must compensate CIR for bribing a judge in a 1990s battle to buy publisher Mondadori.
Analysts have warned that the fine, which Fininvest hopes to avoid paying via an appeal, could threaten any plans Mediaset might have for acquisitions in Spain, where it has a ontrolling stake in broadcaster Telecinco.
'A 750 million euro blow would make anyone tremble. Such a sudden and major hole in our financial resources would put at risk our chances of developing,' Marina Berlusconi said in an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper published on Saturday.
The damages case has heavy political overtones as CIR is the holding company of the prime minister's business and political rival Carlo De Benedetti, whose left-leaning paper La Repubblica is being sued by Berlusconi for leading what he depicts as a leftist campaign to discredit and destabilise him.
CIR's lawyers responded to Marina Berlusconi's comments by saying that it was was 'understandable that the obligation to pay 750 million euros is a 'blow' to the debtor, Fininvest'.
'But it was a much harder and more unfair blow to the creditor, CIR, 20 years ago when it suffered economic damage because of Fininvest,' said CIR lawyers Vincenzo Roppo and Elisabetta Rubini, in a statement sent to Reuters.
'This blow would be repeated against CIR if it does not receive its just compensation,' they said.
In 2007 Berlusconi, who is now 73, was cleared of criminal responsibility in the case because the charges had elapsed under Italy's statute of limitations. His former lawyer Cesare Previti was found guilty of bribing a judge in 1991 to rule in favour of Fininvest in the battle with CIR.
But the judge said on awarding damages in the civil case last weekend that Silvio Berlusconi was 'co-responsible in the corruption issue' because he owned the company.
(Additional reporting by Roberto Landucci and Tiziana Barghin; writing by Stephen Brown) Keywords: BERLUSCONI FININVEST/FINE (stephen.brown@thomsonreuters.com; +39 06 8522 4350; stephen.brown.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
A week ago a Milan court ruled that Fininvest, which owns 38.6 percent of Italy's largest private broadcaster Mediaset, must compensate CIR for bribing a judge in a 1990s battle to buy publisher Mondadori.
Analysts have warned that the fine, which Fininvest hopes to avoid paying via an appeal, could threaten any plans Mediaset might have for acquisitions in Spain, where it has a ontrolling stake in broadcaster Telecinco.
'A 750 million euro blow would make anyone tremble. Such a sudden and major hole in our financial resources would put at risk our chances of developing,' Marina Berlusconi said in an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper published on Saturday.
The damages case has heavy political overtones as CIR is the holding company of the prime minister's business and political rival Carlo De Benedetti, whose left-leaning paper La Repubblica is being sued by Berlusconi for leading what he depicts as a leftist campaign to discredit and destabilise him.
CIR's lawyers responded to Marina Berlusconi's comments by saying that it was was 'understandable that the obligation to pay 750 million euros is a 'blow' to the debtor, Fininvest'.
'But it was a much harder and more unfair blow to the creditor, CIR, 20 years ago when it suffered economic damage because of Fininvest,' said CIR lawyers Vincenzo Roppo and Elisabetta Rubini, in a statement sent to Reuters.
'This blow would be repeated against CIR if it does not receive its just compensation,' they said.
In 2007 Berlusconi, who is now 73, was cleared of criminal responsibility in the case because the charges had elapsed under Italy's statute of limitations. His former lawyer Cesare Previti was found guilty of bribing a judge in 1991 to rule in favour of Fininvest in the battle with CIR.
But the judge said on awarding damages in the civil case last weekend that Silvio Berlusconi was 'co-responsible in the corruption issue' because he owned the company.
(Additional reporting by Roberto Landucci and Tiziana Barghin; writing by Stephen Brown) Keywords: BERLUSCONI FININVEST/FINE (stephen.brown@thomsonreuters.com; +39 06 8522 4350; stephen.brown.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.