AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi jailed for tax evasion

Silvio Berlusconi: Four years for tax evasion

AC Milan owner and former Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to jail for tax evasion.

A four-year sentence has been reduced to one year due to a 2006 amnesty law aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.

Berlusconi, 76, is expected to appeal against the sentence - the first he has been given after a number of previous trials and inquiries found in his favour - and is unlikely to go to prison due to his age, the lengthy appeals process and statute of limitations

The media tycoon, who has also been barred from holding public office for three years, was not in the courtroom for the verdict on the case which stems from dealings in his Mediaset business empire.

The prosecution had claimed Berlusconi - and 10 other defendants - had bought television rights for US films through a series of offshore companies, before falsely declaring the payments in order to avoid taxes.

Berlusconi was Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Minister, but he resigned last November over his country's debt crisis.

He remained AC Milan's president and owner, as well as Italy's richest man. It is not clear yet what the consequences of Berlusconi's sentence will be for the Rossoneri.

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