Italy146;s Other India Connection

Criminalisation of politics in India is rampant, but P V Narasimha Rao remains the only PM or ex-PM ever convicted.

Criminalisation of politics in India is rampant, but P V Narasimha Rao remains the only PM or ex-PM ever convicted in 2000 in the JMM case. Italy has Silvio Berlusconi, who this week lost the polls by a narrow margin to Romano Prodi; he8217;s been in the dock several times but always got off. Here8217;s how:

THE RAP SHEET

8226; Was in the dock eight times. Charges include corruption, tax fraud, false accounting, illegally financing political parties

8226; Most serious charge involve bribing judges in business deals

8226; Found guilty four times. Verdicts overturned on appeal or the Statute of Limitations was applied

8226; Last charge filed against him and David Mills8212;husband of a British Cabinet minister8212;was on March 10, 2006. Berlusconi allegedly bribed Mills8212;a tax-avoidance specialist8212;with 339;344,000 for giving 8220;helpful8221; testimony in two court cases in the 1990s. The charges carry an 8-yr jail sentence.

LAWS HE CHANGED

8226; Statute of Limitations: Maximum period, from the time of the crime, within which legal proceedings can be started

8226; Law on judicial cooperation with foreign jurisdictions applicable in at least one case

8226; Change in law to reduce gravity of some types of false accounting by making them civil rather than criminal offences three cases

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8226; Law to let defendants seek transfer of trials takes time, hence Statute of Limitations

THE RISE8230;

8226; Italy8217;s longest serving prime minister since World War II was elected first time in 1994. He lost to Romano Prodi in 1996. Re-elected in 2001

8226; Berlusconi8217;s business acumen seemed the thing needed to run the country

8226; The man who started by selling vacuum cleaners could be worth 12 billion today, according to Forbes Magazine.

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8226; Business empire includes Mediaset Italy8217;s largest private TV network and Giornale Italy8217;s largest publishing house and newspaper; football club AC Milan ,construction and insurance companies, department stores.

8230;AND THE FALL

Though Prodi is ahead by only one seat, results do indicate Italy8217;s disenchantment.

8226; Berlusconi projected himself as a pro-capitalist reformer but did little to deregulate economy or reform social benefits

8226; Italy8217;s growth average is less than 1 per cent a year8212;the lowest of any major industrial country.