Berlusconi chooses jail over community service if guilty tax verdict upheld

ROME: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi will do time behind bars if found definitively guilty of tax fraud, rather than take advantage of lenient punishment for the over 70s, he said in an interview published Sunday.

"I will not go into exile. Nor will I accept being entrusted to social services, like a criminal who has to be reeducated," the former premier said in an interview in Libero daily, in reference to an upcoming ruling by Italy's top court on his appeal against a guilty tax trial verdict.

The billionaire said he would also refuse to take advantage of Italy's policy to let elderly people carry out sentences under house arrest.

"I am almost 78 years old and I would have the right to house arrest, but if they find me guilty, if they take on that responsibility, I will go to prison," he told the centre-right newspaper.

Italy's Supreme Court meets Tuesday to examine a fraud trial against Berlusconi, and will rule on whether to uphold his conviction and confirm the one-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office.

"I haven't slept for a month. I wake up at night and stare at the ceiling, thinking about what they've done to me," said the media magnate, who has had to deal with a slurry of legal woes during his political career and accuses left-wing magistrates of having a personal vendetta against him.

The trial, which began seven years ago, concerns Berlusconi's Mediaset business empire and revolves around prices of film distribution rights bought by the company that were artificially inflated in order to avoid taxes.

While prosecutors insist the buck stopped with Berlusconi, the magnate denies the charges and says he was too busy with his political career to play any role in dealing with issues such as film rights.

"I am quite optimistic, they cannot find me guilty. I was the prime minister (at the time of the alleged crime), what could I possibly have known about contracts for television rights?" he said.

Berlusconi made no mention of the risk that a definitive guilty verdict and ban from public office would effectively end his 20-year political career.

His position as a senator offers him some protection, for it will be for the senators to vote on whether to deprive him of his seat in the upper house.

It is not clear how long the Rome court will take to examine the case. While a ruling could come as early as Tuesday, the hearings could also last several days. The judges may even postpone their decision to later in the year.

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2013/Jul-28/225321-berlusconi-chooses-jail-over-community-service-if-guilty-tax-verdict-upheld.ashx

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