BERLUSCONI: Veronica Lario’s €3.5 Million-a-month Alimony Demand

BERLUSCONI: Veronica Lario’s €3.5 Million-a-month Alimony Demand

Supplementary memorandum for December hearing in Milan presented

MILAN – Veronica Lario is sticking to her guns. In other words, her demand for a maintenance cheque of €3.5 million a month stands. This is the thrust of a supplementary memorandum submitted a few days ago to the court of Milan, a document that confirms the requests of Silvio Berlusconi’s almost-ex wife in her action for a judicial separation from the prime minister.

When the contents of the supplementary memorandum were leaked yesterday from the city courts, Ms Lario herself was taken by surprise. Her lawyer, Maria Cristina Morelli, submitted the memorandum a few days ago in preparation for the upcoming separation hearing scheduled for mid December. It should be mentioned that the submission of supplementary memoranda is virtually mandatory and laid down in civil procedure now that conciliation attempts between the prime minister and his wife have broken down.

Following the action for judicial divorce, in which Ms Lario demanded €3.5 million a month (a figure regarded by the opposing party as “exorbitant”) as well as the Macherio residence, the couple reached an outline agreement last May in the court’s ninth civil section, Gloria Servetti presiding, for monthly maintenance of €300,000 and lifetime usufruct of Villa Belvedere.

A series of further financial arrangements was made for expenses relating to the luxurious home in the Brianza countryside, which Ms Lario helped to furnish, item by item, taking a passionate interest in the villa’s restoration and the organisation of the garden. Villa Belvedere is difficult to manage and it is thought that issues relating to running expenses ruled out a possible consensual agreement. The villa is worth about €78 million and the estate covers 120,000 square metres, to which a further 286,000 has been added. Over the past ten years, the premier has spent about €20.4 million on Villa Belvedere, an enormous sum, most of which has gone on internal and external restructuring. Furniture alone has cost €683,658 over the decade while security expenses run at €487,000 a year. The premier is believed to have calculated running costs at €1.8 million a month, an offer Ms Lario views as insufficient. About a month ago, failure to reach agreement on this issue prompted Ms Lario to leave Villa Belvedere and move into a park residence at Monza belonging to the Hotel de la Ville. Submission of Ms Lario’s supplementary memorandum means that proceedings for a judicial separation will continue, although a new agreement is still possible.

(Da " Il Corriera della Sera" 21/10/2010)