Prosecutors launch tax inquiry against Berlusconi

The allegations, which were immediately rejected by Mediaset, are related to tax declarations for 2003 and 2004 and are part of a wider inquiry.

Berlusconi and his son Piersilvio, deputy chairman of Mediaset, have been summoned for questioning on October 26, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Other senior managers have also been put under investigation, sources said.

Mediaset was founded by Berlusconi in the 1970s and includes Italy's three main privately owned national television channels.

"Every now and then we are put under investigation, we get dragged into things as usual," Mediaset chairman Fedele Confalonieri, one of Berlusconi's closest allies, was quoted by the company's news division as saying.

The accusation is that Mediaset artificially inflated the price of film rights sold to companies that belonged to him and then sold back to Mediaset, allowing the company to reduce its revenues and pay less tax.

The charge is punishable by between 18 months and six years in prison.