Berlusconi sentenced to prison

[Loki]

Silvio Berlusconi sentenced for tax fraud

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been handed a jail sentence and barred from office after being found guilty of tax fraud.

The Milan court sentenced him to four years but later cut it to one year because of an amnesty law.

Mr Berlusconi condemned the sentence as "intolerable judicial harassment". He will remain free pending appeals.

He and others were accused of buying US film rights at inflated prices via two offshore companies under his control.

It is the first time Mr Berlusconi - who has faced a number of trials - has been convicted of any crime concerning his business activities.

He has in the past either been cleared, or cases have run beyond the judicial time limit.

In 1997 he received a suspended sentence for false book-keeping but that conviction was reversed on appeal.

In the case for which he was sentenced on Friday, prosecutors argued that part of the money declared for the purchase of film rights was skimmed off to create illegal slush funds, reducing tax liabilities for Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset group.

The court handed Mr Berlusconi a longer sentence than the three years and eight months requested by prosecutors. However, it later announced that the sentence would be cut to one year due to a 2006 amnesty law aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.

It ordered him and his co-defendants to pay 10m euros (£8m) in damages and banned him from holding public office for three years.

Both the jail term and the ban would only take effect if the sentence is upheld by a higher court, Italian news agency Ansa reported.

"It is a political, incredible and intolerable judgement," Mr Berlusconi said on Italia 1 - one of the TV stations he owns.

"It is without any doubt a political verdict just as all the cases invented against me are political."

In all, 11 people were on trial.

Three were acquitted including Mediaset chairman Fedele Confalonieri, a close associate of Mr Berlusconi, and four were cleared because the statute of limitations had run out.

The three others convicted alongside the former prime minister included Hollywood producer Frank Agrama, who received a three-year sentence.

The trial began six years ago and has been subject to repeated delays, in part because of an immunity law that protected Mr Berlusconi while he was prime minister.

[The Lawspeaker]

Justice has been served... at last.

[Jedthehumanoid]

Justice has been served... at last.

Apparently he's too old to

Spoiler!

have sex with young women

go to prison.

[Peyrol]

Don't worry, before the convalidation probably the magistrates involved will die in some mysterious accidents...wouldn't be the first time

[curiousman]

Italian Court Sends Disgraced Berlusconi to Prison

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Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 26, 2012

<small>Illustration: DonkeyHotey.</small>
In November, Silvio Berlusconi bowed out as prime minister after he failed to please the banksters and put together an austerity program for the Italian people.
Mario Monti – former EU commissioner and bankster, top-notch Trilateralist, and Bilderberger – stepped up to take his place as the head of a new “national unity” government. He wasted little time after Berlusconi was out of the way and announced a 30 billion euro ($40.3 billion) package of austerity measures on December 2.
In Italy and Greece thousands of outraged citizens continue to protest austerity. “Deutsche Bank and other German banks loaned huge sums of money to Greece and Italy, knowing for a fact that at least half of the loaned money was being stolen by wealthy personal friends and business partners of government officials, and not caring, because they knew that the ECB would enforce ‘austerity,’ would demand that people who didn’t benefit from those loans, not the wealthy people who did, pay them back by the enforced looting of those countries of every asset,” J. Brad Hicks wrote last year as anti-austerity riots intensified.
Now out of favor and obviously no longer of use to the globalists, the elderly Berlusconi faces four years in prison after a court in Milan convicted him of tax evasion. The conviction arrived shortly after Berlusconi announced he will not run for premier in upcoming elections and thus not present a challenge to Super Mario and the ECB banksters.
Berlusconi also faces charges of paying for sex with an under-age teenager and trying to cover it up.
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This article was posted: Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:58 am

[Mortimer]

I know he is a criminal but he is symphatic/cute criminal. To me he is the stereotype "Italiano Gangster"

[The Lawspeaker]

“Deutsche Bank and other German banks loaned huge sums of money to Greece and Italy, knowing for a fact that at least half of the loaned money was being stolen by wealthy personal friends and business partners of government officials, and not caring, because they knew that the ECB would enforce ‘austerity,’ would demand that people who didn’t benefit from those loans, not the wealthy people who did, pay them back by the enforced looting of those countries of every asset,”

So that's why our elderly, our poor, our sick and infirm.. and now also our middle class have to suffer so "we can help Greece and pay off our national debt as well". Bunch of sneaky... motherf..ckers !!

[MagnaLaurentia]

I know he is a criminal but he is symphatic/cute criminal. To me he is the stereotype "Italiano Gangster"

Berlusconi is like Al Capone? I don't think so, he's not an south Italian. I think Berlusconi is a good example of the bourgeoisie of northern Italy. He's a scoundrel who loves women. A enjoyer in other words. His nickname is il Cavaliere and not Scarface.

From the outside, my vision of Italians and Italy is a country with smart people who are friendly crooks. They defraud the state because they are all Cavaliere. This is the country where everyone is "doctor" or "architect". That gives an interesting country culturally with several small-medium companies recognized worldwide for luxury goods. Unfortunately, Monti will kill Italy.

[Mortimer]

Berlusconi is like Al Capone? I don't think so, he's not an south Italian. I think Berlusconi is a good example of the bourgeoisie of northern Italy. He's a scoundrel who loves women. A enjoyer in other words. His nickname is il Cavaliere and not Scarface.

From the outside, my vision of Italians and Italy is a country with smart people who are friendly crooks. They defraud the state because they are all Cavaliere. This is the country where everyone is "doctor" or "architect". That gives an interesting country culturally with several small-medium companies recognized worldwide for luxury goods. Unfortunately, Monti will kill Italy.

Il Cavliere, lol, that sounds awesome.

[MagnaLaurentia]

The best of Berlusconi. It's so huge that it's hard to believe that it happened for real. lol

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