The Washington Post reports that an alleged payment of US $600 000 was made by Berlusconi to Mills in 1997. The pair, apparently “close friends”, have previously been charged with “false accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud”, writes the Post.

Russian newspaper Kommersant notes that Berlusconi - Italy’s richest man - “has ample experience fighting legal battles”, but describes the alleged payment as “a new revelation”, which “prosecutors believe to be incontrovertible evidence of Mr Berlusconi’s guilt”.

According to the Italian website ANSA, the trial is due to begin on 13 March. Judicial sources say the defendants face sentences of three to eight years if convicted.

The BBC notes that Mills, who will stand trial alongside Berlusconi, is the estranged husband of British culture secretary Tessa Jowell. The official spokesman of British Prime Minister Tony Blair “refused to be drawn on the case”, it writes.