Ban? What ban?
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been given the green light to again hold public office. The ubiquitous Italian politician had been barred from holding office following a conviction on tax fraud charges.
The tax fraud scheme involved a series of offshore companies. Berlusconi allegedly used the companies to buy TV rights for nearly 3,000 films; the value of those films was used to claim certain tax breaks. The rights were later resold to related companies at inflated prices, and Berlusconi was accused of pocketing the difference. It was, according to prosecutors, a deliberate and significant case of tax evasion.
Berlusconi was initially sentenced to a four-year prison sentence, issued a hefty fine, and banned from public office. Most didn’t expect to see Berlusconi behind bars. At first, his jail sentence was reduced to one year because of prison overcrowding. And even after the conviction was upheld in 2013 following an appeal, Berlusconi managed to avoid jail time. His sentence was eventually commuted to community service due to his age (the politician is 81).
Berlusconi’s ban from public office was set to expire in 2019, but following an appeal from his lawyers, a court in Milan overturned the ban, finding that he had been rehabilitated. Prosecutors in the case have not decided whether they will pursue an appeal. However, one of the prosecutors hinted that a lengthy legal challenge might be a pointless exercise since Berlusconi’s ban was set to run out anyway.
This latest ruling means that Berlusconi could stand in an upcoming election. Of course, he was hardly absent from politics since he continued to remain at the head of the Forza Italia party following his forced resignation from public office. However, Forza did not make a strong showing in this year’s March general election, where no single party won a majority. Since that time, the top vote-getters have been working to woo allies and support, making it possible for Berlusconi to claw back into the fray. The date of the next election has not been set but it will likely be in early summer.
Despite his legal and political setbacks, Berlusconi didn’t suffer on the financial front. This year, the man known as Il Cavaliere earned the #190 spot on Forbes’ annual Billionaires list, with an estimated net worth of $8 billion.
