Silvio Berlusconi is set to face a criminal investigation into alleged tax fraud after a Spanish judge lifted immunity accorded to him while he was Italy's prime minister. Judge Baltasar Garzon, an investigating magistrate, said in a ruling on Wednesday that Berlusconi can now be included in the probe into tax fraud and illegal share dealing in Spanish TV station Telecinco, which is controlled by the Italian magnate's Mediaset group. Several of Berlusconi's former business partners are already on trial in Spain in the case. Garzon suspects Berlusconi of covering up a tax fraud of $138 million (€108 million) between 1990 and 1993 while he was vice-president of Telecinco. Garzon, who gained worldwide notoriety when he ordered the arrest of Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean leader, first began the investigation in 1997, but was stymied because Berlusconi had immunity first as a member of the European Parliament and from 2001 as Italy's prime minister.