New decision by the Cassation which does not make life easy for Silvio Berlusconi. The third civil section of the Court of Cassation rejected today the appeal of Fininvest against Carlo De Benedetti's Cir for compensation for the so-called "Lodo Mondadori". For the judges, the compensation awarded to Cir remains essentially confirmed even if with a downward adjustment (equal to approximately 23 million euros) on the amount paid by the judges and equal to 564,2 million euros.
The Lodo Mondadori in the early 90s put an end to the judicial-financial dispute between two entrepreneurs over the ownership of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.
The Supreme Court, in the sentence of over 180 pages just filed and relating to the hearing held last June 26, accepted, and partially, only one of the 15 reasons for the Fininvest defense, the thirteenth, relating to the complaint for the excessive evaluation of the shares of the L'Espresso group. On this point, the supreme judges "repealed without referral the head of the appeal sentence containing the liquidation of the damage on an equitable basis, as estimated at 15% of the pecuniary damage already liquidated".
In July 2011 the The Court of Appeal of Milan had confirmed the compensation owed by the holding which refers to Silvio Berlusconi, but reducing it in weight, from 750 to 564,2 million euros. The figure of 750 million had been established in first degree by Judge Raimondo Mesiano, on the grounds that Cir had suffered financial damage from loss of opportunity. In Cassation, with the green light to the proposal of the attorney general Pasquale Fimiani, the share drops to just over 542 million euros.
The news made the share of the De Benedetti holding soar on the Stock Exchange which, around 15.40 pm, recorded an increase of almost 5% to 1,2 euro.
Silvio Berlusconi's financial galaxy reacts badly to the defeat in the Cassation. Mondadori Editore lost 0,85%, Mediolanum 0,18% and Mediaset 0,53%.
"I note with satisfaction - commented Carlo De Benedetti - that after more than twenty years the seriousness of the theft that the Cir suffered, through my person, following the ascertained corruption of a judge by Berlusconi's Fininvest has been definitively ascertained , who, at that time, was still far from engaging in politics. The division of the Mondadori-Espresso Group took place on very unfavorable terms for me for a serious reason that no one knew at the time. It took eight levels of judgement, five criminal and three civil, to arrive at this unappealable decision".
As for the figure, “it is important – continued De Benedetti –, but it must be taken into account that less than a third of it consists of the recognized damage and more than two thirds of the simple mechanism of interest and inflation due to the past twenty years. I did this journey alone and I would like to thank the lawyers and consultants that I chose in his time for the collaboration they have always provided me. This amount is intended for Cir and not for me, not even indirectly, having recently given control of the Group to my three children. I am left with a great bitterness: I was prevented, through corruption, from developing that large publishing group that I had planned and created. I will be able to return to the subject”.
