Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi sentenced to 4-year jail term for tax fraud
26 Oct 2012
A Milan court has sentenced former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to four years in prison after he was found guilty of tax fraud in a case involving the purchase of US film and television rights via offshore companies on behalf of Mediaset SpA, the country's largest private television broadcaster.
The court also banned Berlusconi from holding public office for three years, but acquitted Fedele Confalonieri, chairman of Mediaset, of the same charge.
Berlusconi and Confalonieri who were both named in the case, have the right to appeal.
Berlusconi, Confalonieri and other suspects have been charged with falsely declaring the cost of purchasing the rights to US productions to lower the tax bill.
According to prosecutors, Mediaset paid an inflated price of €470 million ($610 million) for the rights to US productions between 1994 and 1999 through two offshore companies in order to skim money from the deal for a secret slush fund.
The prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence of three years and eight months for Berlusconi and three years and four months for Confalonieri.
