MILAN - Milan magistrates have wrapped up an investigation into accusations that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tried to bribe a witness in a fraud case, judicial sources said on Thursday.
The news means that Berlusconi's long battle with the Italian judiciary could flare up again during campaigning for the general election on April 9 and 10.
Berlusconi's lawyers have 20 days to ask for more details to be included in the case or for more questioning. At that stage prosecutors normally ask a judge to send the accused to trial.
Magistrates have been investigating whether Berlusconi offered money to lawyer David Mills, husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, to prevent him from revealing details of his dealings with the prime minister's media empire.
Both Mills and Berlusconi, who declined an invitation to appear before magistrates late last year, have denied wrongdoing. Their lawyers were not available for comment.
Berlusconi, Mills and 12 others are already under investigation in a related fraud case involving the Berlusconi family's media company, Mediaset. Preliminary hearings to decide whether to indict them began in October.
Under Italian law, public prosecutors investigate suspected crimes but it is up to a judge to decide whether to charge the accused and send them to trial.
Mills has testified as a witness at three of Berlusconi's fraud trials.
Berlusconi has been tried on at least seven occasions for graft. He was found guilty four times, but the verdicts have been overturned on appeal or the statute of limitations has applied. He accuses prosecutors of conducting a politically motivated witchhunt against him and his family.
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