Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi Saved from Prison

The long-running legal battle to put Silvio Berlusconi, media magnate and Prime Minister of Italy, behind bars finally ended in defeat for his opponents. It also ended in a defeat of sorts for the PM. One count of judicial bribery was tossed out because the statue of limitations had passed. That isn’t the same as an acquittal.

This was the last of eight cases against the PM since he embarked on his political career in 1993, which included charges of bribery, tax fraud and false accounting. In three of those cases, he was convicted. However, under Italian law (which appears to be over-compensating for the predations of the Mussolini regime), that doesn’t mean any jail time. Instead, the cases went to the court of appeals where they were dropped or the statute of limitations had also run out.

Mr. Berlusconi is the richest man in the country, and the method by which he did so would make a Russian oligarch green with envy. He passed funds from his Finvest company through an off-shore firm named All Iberian to Bettino Craxi, who happened to be Prime Minister at the time. Mr. Craxi abolished the state monopoly on TV broadcasting shortly after that. Mr. Craxi died in exile in Tunisia, hiding from a prison term awarded in absentia. Mr. Berlusconi got 2 years and 4 months for this, but the sentence was dropped thanks to the statute of limitations.

In the latest battle, Mr. Berlusconi went so far as to alter Italian law to provide immunity from prosecution for the prime minister, the head of state, the heads of both chambers of parliament and the boss of the constitutional court. Although the constitutional court threw this out six months or so later, Mr. Berlusconi was the only one of the five in court. And during those six months, Italy held the European Union Presidency – how convenient.

Mr. Berlusconi beat the rap, and it now appears he’ll get to keep his freedom, his money and the top job in Italian politics. Nice to know, though, that the day after he was let off, Marcello Dell'Utri, a founding member of Mr. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, got nine years for money laundering. The next general election is due by May 2006. Heaven knows what will be left of the Italian government by then.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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