Ex-Berlusconi minister arrested in Mafia probe

MILAN (AP) — A former minister in several of Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right governments was arrested Thursday in a luxury Rome hotel for allegedly helping a prominent businessman convicted of Mafia association flee abroad.

Claudio Scajola was accused of helping political ally Amedeo Matacena flee to Dubai last summer to avoid a five-year jail sentence and of then trying to arrange asylum for him and relatives in Lebanon using government contacts, Reggio Calabria prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho told a news conference.