An Italian judge has ordered Saadi Gadaffi, the third son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi, to pay a €392 000 hotel bill he failed to settle.
Gadaffi was taken to court by the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Rapallo, near Portofino, after staying for about 40 days in early 2008, accompanied by secretaries, bodyguards, a personal trainer, a driver and a dog trainer.
The party left without paying the bill but did leave behind a black sports utility vehicle, which is still parked at the hotel, local media reported.
At the time, Gaddafi was winding up his career as a professional footballer in Italy. After signing in 2003 for Serie A side Perugia, Gaddafi joined Udinese in 2005 and Sampdoria in 2006, playing in a total of two matches in Italy and failing a drugs test. When not in training, he made the Italian gossip columns when he reportedly crashed a yacht into a harbour wall in Sardinia. He is now reportedly forging a new career as a film mogul.
Gadaffi’s legal woes follow the brief jailing in 2008 in Switizerland of his younger brother Hannibal and his wife on charges of assaulting members of their staff, an incident that prompted the Libyan government to boycott Swiss imports, recall diplomats, close Swiss company offices in Libya and detain two Swiss businessmen.
The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who worked to restore ties between Libya an Switzerland, has cast himself as Colonel Gadaffi’s best friend in Europe, inviting him to last year’s G8 conference in Italy and agreeing to pay $5-billion compensation for Italy’s colonial rule in Libya.
Corriere della Sera reported that prior to taking legal action, the Grand Hotel Excelsior contacted the Libyan embassy in Italy which had paid previous bills on behalf of Saadi Gadaffi, only to be told that it would not cover the cost of the stay until it was told to do so by the Libyan government. On Friday, an Italian judge ordered Gaddafi to €5 000 in legal expenses in addition to his bill. – guardian.co.uk