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Berlusconi slams pension cut as 'an insult'

The Local/AFP
The Local/AFP - [email protected]
Berlusconi slams pension cut as 'an insult'
Silvio Berlusconi said the axing of his €8,000 a month parliamentary pension was the latest “insult” against him. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said the axing of his €8,000 a month parliamentary pension was the latest “insult” against him. So much so, because he gave the money to charity.

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Berlusconi was left fuming after Italy’s senate last week revoked his parliamentary pension after the tax-fraud convict was sentenced by a Naples court for bribing a senator in a fresh legal blow.

Italy’s three-time premier reportedly received €8,000 a month, which he said he gave to charity.

"After all that I have done in my years in government, to cut the annuity was an outrage,” he was quoted on Thursday by Ansa as telling officials in his Forza Italia party.

The pensions of seven other convicted ex-politicians, including Berlusconi’s ex-advisor Marcello Dell’Utri, who is serving a seven-year jail term over links to the mafia, were also revoked by the senate last week.

Berlusconi was sentenced to three years in prison for bribing Sergio De Gregorio to get him to leave the coalition of then premier Romano Prodi.

Bribes totalling €3 million were paid to De Gregorio, who admitted accepting the money, through an intermediary.

But the 78-year-old will not actually have to serve any time in prison because of legal technicalities, his lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, said after the court verdict.

Ghedini slammed the verdict as "unjust and unjustified" but said the case would reach its statute of limitations on November 6th.

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.

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