Silvio Berlusconi 4-year fraud term upheld

Silvio Berlusconi's four-year conviction for tax fraud on TV rights bought by his Mediaset TV empire was upheld today. Mr Berlusconi had appealed against a sentence passed by a lower court in 2012, which had found him guilty of tax fraud, but the appeals court reinstated the 2012 conviction and said he should serve four years in jail. The three-time premier and media magnate will appeal again to the Corte di Cassazione, the Italian supreme court. The sentence confirmed also a 10 million Euro fine and barred him from holding office for five years. If the verdict were to be confirmed by the Corte di Cassazione, then Berlusconi may have to take a definite step back from politics.