Berlusconi says he did nothing wrong

ROME, June 4 (UPI) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday charges he used government planes for private trips show his opponents have no ideas to put forward.

Prosecutors in Rome began investigating the allegations after a consumer group filed a complaint Monday, the Italian news agency ANSA said. Berlusconi allegedly flew guests to his villa on the island of Sardinia in May last year.

The prime minister said a private passenger may occasionally have hitched a ride when the plane was in use anyway. Berlusconi said he had also entertained foreign leaders at his villa at his own expense.

''I'm happy to see the small-mindedness of our opponents emerge once again,'' he said.

Antonio Di Pietro, head of Italy of Values, accused Berlusconi of ''the use and abuse of military airplanes and pilots trained like in Top Gun, at a cost of 40-50 million euros a year, to transport jesters, ballerinas, minstrels and showgirls to the villa of our very own Nero," comparing Berlusconi to the emperor who purportedly fiddled while Rome burned.