Italy Prosecutor Wants British Lawyer Mills Jailed

Berlusconi is charged with paying Mills $600,000 in 1997 to withhold incriminating details of his business dealings.

An Italian prosecutor has asked for British lawyer David Mills to be jailed for 4 years and 8 months at a trial where he is charged with taking a bribe from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi 11 years ago.

Berlusconi is charged with paying Mills, the estranged husband of British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, $600,000 in 1997 to withhold incriminating details of his business dealings. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

"I want to show that Berlusconi's gift was not a one-off but was part of a long-running story. The expression 'on the payroll' is ugly but you can't sum up this concept any better," prosecuting magistrate Fabio De Pasquale said in his summing up.

Berlusconi secured immunity in the case in July under a law approved by his government after he won power in an April general election. Milan judges have asked for the law's legality to be reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

Berlusconi maintains politically-motivated magistrates have been chasing him since he entered politics 14 years ago. A judge must make the final decision on any sentence for Mills.