Berlusconi faces new criminal charges

MILAN, Italy, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi was indicted Tuesday for allegedly publishing a transcript from an illegally obtained wiretap, officials say.

The transcript of the secretly recorded 2005 conversation was published in Il Giornale, the conservative newspaper headed by Berlusconi's brother, Paolo.

The conversation took place between Piero Fassino, head of the short-lived Democratic Left party, and Giovanni Consorte, former chairman of Unipol, an association of insurers linked to the Democratic Left, Italy's former Communist Party. Around that time, Unipol was very close to taking over a leading Italian bank, Banca Naxionale del Lavoro. The Italian news agency ANSA reported Fassino was recorded saying, "We have a bank!"

Berlusconi told a Milan court Tuesday he had never heard the wiretapped conversation, "otherwise I would have remembered." Two others have been convicted of involvement.

Berlusconi already has been charged in three criminal cases: tax fraud, bribery, and paying an underage prostitute and then using his position to cover it up.