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David Mills a step nearer serving Italian jail time
Tessa Jowell’s husband could be in prison while she attends the 2012 London Olympics
The London tax lawyer David Mills, husband of Britain's Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, faces the real prospect of being jailed in Italy after a court today turned down his appeal against conviction for accepting a $600,000 bribe, allegedly paid by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.
Mills was Berlusconi's legal adviser, helping the media tycoon set up offshore companies in order to reduce his tax bill. Mills received the payment in February 2000 and admitted to investigators that it was a reward for his help in altering testimony in Berlusconi's favour in two trials during the 1990s.
However, despite the existence of a letter to his accountant, in which Mills wrote that the cash was for keeping "Mr B out of a great deal of trouble he would have been in had I said all I knew", he later tried to persuade investigators that the money had come not from Berlusconi, but from a Neapolitan ship owner.
Mills has one more stage of appeal he can make use of under Italian law - the corte di cassazione or Supreme Court of Appeal. But it gives judgment only on points of law and some observers feel it is unlikely the court will overturn Mills's conviction earlier this year.
Mills could be behind bars as his wife watches the Games from the posh seats
Mills received a four-and-a-half year jail sentence and assuming he begins his jail term some time next year, could still be behind bars while his wife is watching the Games from the posh seats, if the government of the day is kind enough to invite back those politicians who helped win the London bid.
However, there is still the possibility that if the wheels of justice turn slowly enough - and there's always a good chance of that in Italy - Mills will escape jail because the case will be "timed out" under the statute of limitations.
Berlusconi may find himself relying on the same excuse when he goes to trial sometime soon, accused of paying the bribe.
It is one of two court cases against the PM that can now be rescheduled after the immunity Berlusconi granted himself on becoming PM last year was lifted earlier this month by Italy's constitutional court.
With the Italian judiciary clearly keen to give Berlusconi a taste of justice, both the PM and his former tax adviser will be on tenterhooks for the coming weeks. ·
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And no one should forget the money was used to pay off a loan he and Jowell had taken out to invest in a hedge fund. Tax free perhaps, was that the original TESSA?. Socialist to the core!
I wonder if Tessa can remember yet who it was who paid-off the mortgage on her house? When she was questioned on this by the House Committee, she said she "couldn't remember". I mean, how ungrateful to forget an act of pure charity like that, eh? Silvio Berlusconi must be hopping mad to have his generosity taken so lightly. Mysteriously Tessa remains unpunished for this matter. It does, however, offer some small hope that this crook Mills will be eating porridge for a very long time.