Mills to stand trial on fraud charges

· Lawyer faces up to 12 years in jail if convicted
· Former PM Berlusconi accused of embezzlement

David Mills, estranged husband of culture secretary Tessa Jowell, learned last night that he is to stand trial in Italy alongside the country's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, after a judge in Milan indicted both men on fraud charges.

After a preliminary hearing lasting more than eight months, the judge indicted the pair and 12 others in connection with the allegedly crooked trading of film rights through offshore tax havens. The trial is to open on November 21.

Mr Mills, who set up a web of offshore companies for the business empire of Italy's richest man, is charged with tax fraud and money laundering. He has strenuously denied the prosecution's claims. When the Guardian first revealed last year that he risked being tried, Mr Mills described the accusations as "unjust" and groundless. If convicted, he could face up to 12 years in an Italian jail.

Mr Mills separated from his wife in March following extensive publicity given to another case in which he is accused of taking a £340,000 bribe from Mr Berlusconi. That case is the subject of another preliminary hearing which began last month, before the same judge. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

In the trial, due to start in November, Mr Berlusconi is accused of buying Hollywood film rights through offshore companies set up by Mr Mills, and then selling them on to his own television networks at inflated prices. One effect of this, it is claimed, was to artificially bring down the profits of his media group, and thereby illegally cut its tax bill by some €60m.

The prosecution argues that the operations also duped investors, who bought shares in Mr Berlusconi's company when parts of it was floated on the stock exchange. Since the film rights had been bought for more than they were worth, prosecutors maintain, the value of the firm was less than claimed when parts of it were sold to the public.

The charges against Mr Berlusconi are of tax evasion, false accounting and embezzlement. It is claimed that much of the difference between what was paid for the film rights by the offshore companies, and what was paid for them by Mr Berlusconi's TV empire, was siphoned off to be set aside for the tycoon's children by his first marriage. The companies were established by Mr Mills, and it is alleged his role amounted to money-laundering.

The British lawyer has always maintained that he was simply a professional adviser, and that he cannot, therefore, be held accountable for the uses made of the business vehicles he created. That position was accepted in earlier trials involving Italy's former prime minister, in which Mr Mills gave evidence as an expert witness for the prosecution.

The other case in which the British lawyer is involved, concerns accusations that, in two of those trials, he tailored his evidence and was rewarded by Mr Berlusconi afterwards. Both men have said that no such payment was made.