Decision expected as top Italian court hears Berlusconi appeal

Deliberations in the final appeal of the tax fraud conviction against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi entered their second day at Italy's highest court in Rome Wednesday.

   

With the defence given the floor, it was expected that Berlusconi's lawyers would plead for acquittal. The 76-year-old politician and tycoon was sentenced in October to four years in prison and a five-year ban on holding public office for fraudulent offshore accounting by his family's media firm, Mediaset.

   

If the Court of Cassation confirms the verdict, it would be Berlusconi's first criminal conviction to be upheld out of more than 30 judicial proceedings he has faced. A decision is expectedas soon as Wednesday or Thursday.

   

Prosecutor Antonello Mura on Tuesday called for the court to confirm Berlusconi's conviction, but to reduce the ban on holding office to three years. Berlusconi was the "deciding head" in a systematic fraud, Mura said.

   

However, the five judges could also acquit Berlusconi outright or remand the case to the Court of Appeal in Milan. Defence lawyer Franco Coppi was not seeking further delays to the process.

   

"From our side, there is no request for postponement," he said, adding the ban on holding office was a "manifest error."

   

In Italy, verdicts can be appealed twice before they are enforced. Berlusconi's conviction was upheld on first appeal in May.

   

If the guilty verdict is again upheld, it could have major consequences for the government of crisis-ridden Italy. 

 

Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party is the most important partner in a grand coalition with the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

   

Should the court uphold the ban on public office, it would be put to the Italian Senate for approval. Berlusconi is himself a senator, and would be forced to leave office if the ban were upheld.

   

Berlusconi would be unlikely to face jail time because of lenient detention rules for people over 70. He could be placed under house arrest or made to perform community service.

   

On several occasions in previous legal cases, Berlusconi was not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired or because, under his governments, laws were passed making it moredifficult to prosecute him.

   

-Sapa-dpa