An Italian court on Friday sentenced former
prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to four years in
jail for tax fraud in connection with the
purchase of broadcasting rights by his
Mediaset television company.
Berlusconi has the right to appeal the ruling
two more times before the sentence becomes
definitive and will not be jailed unless the final
appeal is upheld, Reuters reports.
Prosecutors had asked for a jail sentence of
three years and eight months.
The court also ordered damages provisionally
set at 10 million euros (8.05 million pounds) to
be paid by Berlusconi and his co-defendants to
tax authorities.
The ruling comes two days after Berlusconi, 76,
confirmed he would not run in next year’s
elections as the leader of his centre-right
People of Freedom party.
A separate trial over accusations that
Berlusconi paid for sex with an under aged
prostitute is currently being heard in Milan. He
denies all charges against him.
The four-time prime minister and other
Mediaset executives stood accused of inflating
the price paid for TV rights via offshore
companies controlled by Berlusconi, and
skimming off part of the money to create illegal
slush funds.
The investigation focused on television and
cinema rights that Berlusconi’s holding
company Fininvest bought via offshore
companies from U.S groups for 470 million
euros between 1994 and 1999.
Angelino Alfano, secretary of the PDL, said the
ruling proved once again “judicial persecution”
of the media-magnate, while political rival
Antonio Di Pietro, a former magistrate, hailed
the decision, saying “the truth has been
exposed.”
The court acquitted Mediaset chairman and
long-term Berlusconi friend Fedele
Confalonieri, for whom prosecutors had
sought a sentence of three years and four
months.
Shares in Mediaset, Italy’s biggest private
broadcaster, fell as much as three per cent after
the ruling.
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