Trials involving Silvio Berlusconi
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The many trials involving Silvio Berlusconi are summarised below. Mr Berlusconi has been tried in Italian courts in several cases. In all of them, but one, he was either acquitted by a court of first instance or on appeal, or when proceedings came to a halt because the statute of limitations had expired. Mr Berlusconi has always been able to afford top lawyers, and during his period in office as prime minister managed to make important legislative changes which favoured his personal business interests. Some of his lawyers are also members of parliament.
[edit] Completed processes
[edit] False testimony on Propaganda 2
In 1990 Berlusconi was declared guilty of perjury by the appeal court of Venice for false testimony on his affiliation to the freemason lodge "Propaganda 2", commonly known as "P2"; however the court did not proceed to a punishment sentence because the crime had been extinguished by the 1989 amnesty.
[edit] Bribing a member of the Financial Police (corruption)
First Court: sentenced to jail (2 years and 9 months) for four bribes.
Appeal court: the statute of limitations expired for three of the charges, an Acquittal was given on the fourth with dubitative formula.
[edit] All Iberian 1 (illegally financing a political party)
First Court: sentenced to jail (2 years and 4 months) for paying 21 billion lire (about 10 million euro) to Bettino Craxi via an offshore bank account codenamed "All Iberian".
Appeal Court: the statute of limitations expired before the appeal was completed so Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted.
[edit] Medusa Cinema (false accounting)
First Court: sentenced to jail (16 months) for false accounting of 10 billion Lire (about 5 million euro) in some of Silvio Berlusconi's bank accounts.
Appeal Court: acquitted on the charge with dubitative formula (not proven) .
[edit] Lodo Mondadori (corrupting a judge)
Appeal Court: statute of limitations expired before the appeal was completed so Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted.
[edit] All Iberian 2 (false accounting)
First Court: Berlusconi was acquitted on September 26, 2005 because the new law on false accounting makes false accounting illegal only if there is a specific damaged party reporting the fact to the authorities [1]. This new law was passed by Berlusconi's coalition after the beginning of the trial, and was claimed by the opposition to be an ad personam law, i.e. aimed at acquitting Berlusconi.
[edit] SME-Ariosto (corrupting a judge)
At its outset, the trial SME-Ariosto involved both Cesare Previti and Silvio Berlusconi. Subsequently the Italian government (i.e., Berlusconi) approved a new law, the so called "Lodo Maccanico" (also known as "Lodo Schifani" after the name of a lawyer of Berlusconi which was also a member of parliament working on the law). This law gives immunity to the five highest officers of the state (premier, president of the Republic, Senate's president, Deputy Chamber's president, Constitutional Court's president). To avoid complete suspension of the trial, the Court of Milan split it into two parts, one regarding Cesare Previti, the other Silvio Berlusconi. The Cesare Previti part of the trial resulted in a guilty verdict. The other part (regarding Silvio Berlusconi) did not prove the Italian Prime Minister's innocence but the case had to close because of the statute of limitations. On 16 April 2004 the Constitutional Court declared that the "Lodo Schifani" violated articles n. 3 and 34 of the Italian Constitution.[2] After 12 years of trial, Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted on April 27, 2007, because of art.530 comma 2 ("He didn't' commit the fact")
[edit] Trials still running (September 2004)
[edit] Macherio estates (embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting)
First Court: acquitted for embezzlement and tax fraud, the statute of limitations expired before a verdict was reached on the two cases of false accounting.
Appeal Court: acquitted for embezzlement, tax fraud and the first case of false accounting; statute of limitations expired for the second.
[edit] Lentini affair (false accounting)
Allegation: 5 million euro paid secretly to Torino football club for buying the player Gianluigi Lentini bringing him to AC Milan. First court: The statute of limitations expired for the charge.
Appeal court: still running.
[edit] Fininvest media group consolidated (false accounting)
Allegation: 750 million euro of illegal (black) funds stored by Fininvest in 64 offshore companies. The statute of limitations expired due to the new laws on false accounting recently approved by Berlusconi's government.
[edit] SME-Ariosto (false accounting)
Trial suspended: the European Court of Justice is examining the new Italian laws about social crimes (see trial on All Iberian 2 above).
[edit] Mediaset television and cinema rights (false accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud)
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Mr Berlusconi is to stand trial in relation to transactions carried out by the Berlusconi family's media company Mediaset in the 1990s. Prosecutors suspect two offshore firms controlled by a Berlusconi family holding, Fininvest, bought television and cinema rights from a US firm. The companies, it is alleged, then sold the rights on at inflated prices to Mediaset, also controlled by Fininvest, to avoid Italian taxes and create a slush fund. A total of 14 people, including Mr Berlusconi, are to stand trial in connection with the Mediaset rights purchases. The trial will begin in Milan on November 21, 2006.
