Ruby ter: reasons for condemning pianist, ‘He told falsehood to save relationship with Berlusconi’

“The sharp contrast between the testimonial statements made by Danilo Mariani”, the Sienese pianist of many evenings in Silvio Berlusconi’s Villa di Arcore, “the circumstances that emerged in the context of the Milanese proceedings, defined with pronouncements endowed with the force of the judgment, which ascertained the traceability of the entertainment services offered by the female guests of the Arcore evenings to the notion of prostitution, as well as the almost paradoxical decision with which Mariani has instead excluded the sexual nature of those amusements lead to believe that the accused consciously wanted to deny circumstances well known to him, with the clear aim of not jeopardizing his fiduciary relationship with the former Prime Minister, whose preservation was evidently worth much more than the threat posed by the penal sanction “. This is what the Court of Siena affirms in the reasons, filed in recent days, of the sentence of 2 years of imprisonment (with suspension of the sentence) of Danilo Mariani himself for false testimony issued on May 13th as part of an excerpt from the process related to the so-called Ruby ter. For the other crime contested in competition with Mariani and Berlusconi, corruption in judicial acts, the Court of Siena acquitted both yesterday Thursday 21 October with full formula because the fact does not exist. The extensor judge Chiara Minerva of the college chaired by Ottavio Mosti recalls – on the basis of the proceedings before the Court of Milan on the case of the “olgettine” who attended the “elegant dinners” at the residences of the leader of Forza Italia, where Mariani dealt with musical part of the entertainment – which the Sienese pianist has always denied “in the most absolute way” of having ever witnessed any sexually connoted situation and having seen naked people. Mariani denied physical contacts between the girls and Berlusconi, “other than a handshake, as the former Prime Minister always sat talking”. provided a picture of glaring clarity, in relation to the massive amount of work and economic relationships that bind Mariani to Berlusconi. The importance of these relationships is evidently given not only, per se, by the amount of financial resources, perceived over the years since the accused, but also from the very longevity of the relationship, from its projection into the future, from its absolutely fiduciary and extremely solid character, so much so as to withstand even the delicate phase of trials and investigations. a personal one, by virtue of which Mariani received help from Berlusconi Silvio in some crucial moments of his life “.” It is quite evident that rapport those of this kind with a character like Berlusconi – we read in the motivation of the conviction sentence – constitute a more than consistent, almost obvious, motive to declare the false on circumstances, such as those relating to sexual relations consumed by the same, with very young women, therefore paid himself, on the occasion of the receptions in the villa of Arcore which, in addition to being able to have relevance in terms of criminal responsibility, would in any case have caused, at least, embarrassment to one of the most powerful men in Italy “. On the other hand, the circumstances that, in the evenings of Arcore, in which Mariani participated, “there had been individual approaches and behaviors of certain sexual value” are “ascertained in the proceedings defined by the judgments of the Court of Milan” and this “was not put into consideration in any way. doubt, in the present proceedings, not even by the defense of the accused himself “. On the basis of this contrast, the Court of Siena believes that “it is possible to affirm the objective falsity of the witness statements made by the accused when he was heard as a witness”. The extending judge Chiara Minerva recalls that “the final requests for Mariani’s acquittal from the crime of perjury were based on the mere possibility that the accused, engaged in the performance of his professional activity and by reason of the location of his workplace, could not having seen what, instead, the other witnesses, heard in the proceedings, had declared to the judges or that he could have interpreted differently, also because of his personal conception of the sense of modesty, the value of certain behaviors “. “With regard to these arguments – writes the judge in the sentence – it must be considered that they are based on a fact, the location of Mariani’s workstation, which has not been proven in the process. , moreover, during the discussion, in a phase in which, therefore, the contradictory evaluation was precluded, two plans of uncertain origin and to indicate on them the position in which their client normally settled himself to play and to put the music , arguing that from that angle of view it is possible that he did not see what the guests were doing. Nothing in this regard emerged neither from the witnessed evidence, nor from the further documentation acquired. No declaration in this sense has made Mariani himself “. The investigations carried out made it possible to ascertain” the actual extent of the professional relationship existing between Mariani and Berlusconi and the economic consistency of the rel active remuneration, by virtue of the same received by the accused over the years. Contrary to what Mariani stated, when he was heard as a witness, it emerged that he enjoyed an excellent fixed salary, as well as that he benefited from substantial expense reimbursements and other substantial donations, not otherwise justified “. The bank investigations on Berlusconi’s accounts have revealed the existence of periodic bank transfers of 3,000 euros made in favor of Mariani. The investigators also verified that Mariani received two transfers of 7,000 euros each, just in the vicinity of the dates of the hearings in which he testified (one on 12.12.2012 and one 11.01.2013). It also appeared that Mariani had benefited from Berlusconi’s non-interest bearing loan of 25,000 euros disbursed on 23.10.2013. From the accounting documents presented by the defense of the former prime minister, who produced the extract of current account, “are all the disbursements of money, periodic and not, which already starting from 2006, were made by Berlusconi, in favor of Mari ani “. A consultant said he had reconstructed all the banking movements of Berlusconi’s accounts from 2006 onwards. As for the economic relations between Berlusconi and Mariani, “the consultant said he had considered the two current accounts, of which the defense produced the extracts, examining their movements from 2006 to 2011: in this period, Mariani benefited from disbursements of money for the total amount of 474,765.43 euros “. Mariani also benefited from two non-interest bearing loans: one arranged on 19.06.2008 for the amount of 150,000 euros and one arranged on 25.02.2010 for the amount of 100,000 euros. Mariani also benefited from expense reimbursements and in his favor Berlusconi “also arranged for the other most important transfers, one of 100,000 and one of 150,000 euros, in the years 2010-2011 to help him buy a house”. As for the bank transfer of 25,000 euros, the accountant Giuseppe Spinelli stated that it was an economic aid for the company of Mariani’s wife which was close to bankruptcy. he lied when he was heard as a witness regarding his professional relationship with Berlusconi Silvio and the consequent disbursements of money received for fear of a possible tax audit, which he could consequently undergo and which, in fact, was then carried out “.