Berlusconi loses his appeal against jail

SILVIO Berlusconi last night lost his final appeal against a conviction for tax fraud.

The decision by Italy’s Supreme Court marks the first time a guilty verdict against the former prime minister has been upheld.

But he will not yet be barred from public office as judges are still to determine the length of his ban.

The 76-year-old has faced 20 years of legal skirmishes and at least two dozen trials since entering politics in 1994, but all previous convictions have been thrown out, overturned on appeal or timed out.

But yesterday Italy’s highest court handed the billionaire media magnate a four-year jail sentence for using offshore companies to dodge Italian taxes in the acquisition of Hollywood films for his TV networks.

However, under an amnesty law, this has been reduced to one year – a punishment he will most likely serve under house arrest or through community service.

Meanwhile, judges refused to uphold a five-year ban from public office, instead sending it back for judicial review.

This means that for now Berlusconi, who has no official role in government, can continue leading his centreright People of Freedom (PDL) party and sitting as a senator in Parliament.

He is expected to be placed under house arrest from October, which will prevent him from attending. Even with this restriction he will remain an MP, pending the review of his ban.

Berlusconi, who has always claimed he is the victim of a left-wing conspiracy among the judiciary, was not in court but awaited the news at home.

Members of the PDL, which is in an uneasy coalition with the centre-left Democratic Party, have threatened to bring down the government in retaliation for a conviction.

Luca D’Alessandro, an MP in Berlusconi’s party, said: ‘Honour and solidarity with Silvio Berlusconi, who is certainly more innocent and clean than those who unjustly condemned him’.