Italy anti-mafia body says Berlusconi 'unpresentable' for EU vote

ROME: The Italian parliament's anti-mafia committee on Thursday declared five candidates for the European elections "unpresentable", including billionaire and three-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The five include three candidates from Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party and one from the far-right Casa Pound, and all are currently under investigation or being tried for alleged crimes, according to the committee's president Nicola Morra.

The committee's declaration will not stop the candidates from running in the European Parliament elections, which in Italy are to be held on Sunday.

Media magnate Berlusconi has faced a string of charges over the so-called Rubygate scandal linked to his dinner parties and then 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El-Mahroug, also known as "Ruby the heart-stealer".

The 82-year old is currently on trial accused of paying a witness to give false testimony about the notoriously hedonistic soirees.

Berlusconi is also being investigated or prosecuted for alleged witness tampering in Milan, Sienna, Rome and Turin, each time accused of paying people to keep quiet about his so-called "bunga-bunga" parties.