Berlusconi to avoid jail time over bribery case that had links to Hong Kong officials
Former Italian premier guilty after trial that included testimony involving HK officials
PUBLISHED : Friday, 10 July, 2015, 12:44am
UPDATED : Friday, 10 July, 2015, 12:44am
Agence France-Presse and Lana Lam
Silvio Berlusconi was guilty of bribing a senator. The senator, in return, asked the Hong Kong government for its help regarding the Berlusconi investigation. Photos: AP
Disgraced former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi will avoid jail time despite a guilty verdict in a bribery case that drew in former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, the pope, senior Hong Kong government officials and two local businesswomen.
A court in Naples on Wednesday handed down a three-year sentence to Berlusconi for bribing an Italian senator between 2006 and 2008 in a bid to weaken his rivals and get back into power.
But legal technicalities will mean the 78-year-old will not serve any time in jail, Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, said.
Ghedini slammed the verdict as "unjust and unjustified" but said the case would reach its statute of limitations on November 6.
Since no legal action can be taken after that date, the guilty verdict will have no legal consequences for Berlusconi as there is not enough time for his case to come to be judged on appeal.
"It was a good trial, passionate, but in terms of consequences the imminent expiration date takes all the pathos out of the verdict," said prosecutor Henry John Woodcock.
The case revolved around an alleged plot to destabilise a 2006-08 centre-left government.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi leaves arms up with Italian senator Sergio de Gregorio during Italiani nel Mondo (Italians in the World) convention in Naples in 2008. Photo: AFP
Bribes totalling €3 million (HK$25.7 million) were paid through an intermediary to Senator Sergio De Gregorio to get him to leave the coalition of then premier Romano Prodi.
De Gregorio admitted accepting the bribes from Berlusconi and negotiated a plea bargain with a suspended sentence of 20 months.
De Gregorio told prosecutors he had asked Hong Kong's then representative to the European Union Duncan Pescod to interfere with a fraud and money-laundering case that involved Berlusconi and evidence from Hong Kong involving two businesswomen. De Gregorio said that between 2007 and 2008 he met senior Hong Kong officials in Rome, including Pescod and his successor Mary Chow Shuk-ching.
During a lunch at De Gregorio's Rome residence in April 2008, Pescod requested the senator's help in securing an audience for Tsang with Pope Benedict.
The senator, in return, asked the Hong Kong government for its help regarding the Berlusconi investigation. Shortly afterwards, De Gregorio said he received a letter from Pescod. "The letter suggests Pescod had acted on matters relating to the interests of Berlusconi," De Gregorio alleged.
When the allegations surfaced in 2013, Pescod told the South China Morning Post that while he had asked for help to arrange an audience with the pope for Tsang, he had also relayed to De Gregorio that the government would not interfere with a criminal investigation.
