LONDON, March 1: The British government denied on Wednesday it had botched a case against the husband of Culture Minister Tessa Jowell after Italian prosecutors wrote to the government to complain about its handling of the affair.

Pressure on Ms Jowell increased at the weekend when the Sunday Times newspaper reported she had signed a document in 2000 allowing her husband to get a loan secured on their London home.

The newspaper said the loan was repaid with $600,000 which prosecutors allege Italian Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi placed in an offshore hedge fund to reward Mr Mills for testifying in favour of him at a corruption trial.

The case has threatened to link one of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s most loyal government ministers to a corruption allegation against Mr Berlusconi.

Prosecutors in Italy are investigating whether the money came from Berlusconi, and whether that amounted to a crime.

Mills, a tax lawyer, testified in 1997-98 corruption trials against Berlusconi.—Reuters