A longtime Berlusconi ally imminently facing the final appeal to his conviction of Mafia association has been detained in Lebanon.
Italy's top security official, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, said today that Marcello Dell'Utri was in police custody and that Italy was preparing to seek his extradition.
Dell'Utri was declared a fugitive yesterday. He later issued a statement saying he was abroad for medical treatment, but did not say where.
A former executive in Berlusconi's media empire and then senator in his conservative movement, Dell'Utri was convicted of acting as a mediator between Berlusconi and the Mafia. Italy's highest court hears his final appeal this week.
Dell'Utri denies any ties to the Sicilian Mafia, and any link between the crime syndicate and Berlusconi.
