Berlusconi pretending to ‘do’ parking attendant from behind

Berlusconi stating that as Obama is handsome and suntannted collaboration will be easy

Again, let us point out that this site is not about left or right but about right or wrong (!) and why Berlusconi is wrong.

The question about why some vote for Berlusconi is very closely linked to the issue of conflict of interests and obviously there will be different theories. Being a media mogul and prime minister (or president of the council of ministers as it is called in Italy) makes it possible to a very large extent to manipulate public opinion.

The manipulation is not merely in the form of flooding programs with Berlusconi-supporters but to the extent of dismissing critics from TV. In fact in 2004, 2005  and again in 2009, Italy was the only country in the EU who was not ‘free’ – but only ‘partly free’ in terms of press freedom according to the Organisation Freedom house (http://www.freedomhouse.org/)

But that is of course not the whole story.

Firstly, it has been possible to be head of state by using his position as a media mogule who gives a favourable picture of him.

Secondly, the rist and permanence of power in Italian politics was also largely due to a fragmented centre-left wing – with many centre or left-wing politicians being basically incompetent.

The splitting of media and politics should have been a key priority for ANY government in Italy be it left, right or centre. However, the left had a more imminent interest in addressing and nevertheless failed to do so during the years of centre-left ruling that is 1994-1996, 1998-2001, and 2006-2008.

We attribute this lack of will to address and issue which constituies the very fundamental functioning of a modern democracy as a lack of competence (again, independently of political belief).

However, having mentioned all of the above, there are of course other reasons. Firstly, even if Berlusconi is the buffoon of Europe, you can actually agree with him and many of the reforms he have suggested are sensible. However, there is one hell of a distance between what he promises and what he implements and even if he did implement the fact remains that he has systematically sought to protect himself by passing self-serving legislation and used the media as a power tool.

It could also be an attack of stubbornness where many want to dismiss the many stories and scandals about the buffone as simple political opportunism of the political enemies.

This is a very human reaction but just like the defenders of communism in Eastern Europe during the cold war, they will eventually have to face the reality and the truth. The so-called support for Berlusconi is a bubble that will burst – the only open questions are when, and whether it will explode or fade out.

What has happened, has happened, and it is time to look forward – hense the buffone.eu site.

False testimony on Propaganda 2 : guilty, but amnestied

In 1990 Berlusconi was declared guilty of false testimony by the appeal court of Venice on his affiliation to the freemason lodge “Propaganda 2″, commonly known as “P2″; however the court did not proceed to a punishment sentence because the wrongdoing had been extinguished by an amnesty passed in 1989.

Bribing a member of the Financial Police : not guilty (not proven and statute of limitations)

First Court: sentenced to jail (2 years and 9 months) for four bribes.
Appeal court: the statute of limitations expired for three of the charges, an acquittal was given on the fourth because the court gave him the benefit of the doubt (not proven).

Illegally financed political party on All Iberian 1 : not guilty (statute of limitations)

First Court: sentenced to jail (2 years and 4 months) for paying 21 billion lire (about 10 million euro) to Bettino Craxi via an offshore bank account codenamed “All Iberian”.
Appeal Court: the statute of limitations expired before the appeal was completed so Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted.

False accounting on Medusa Cinema : not guilty (not proven)

First Court: sentenced to jail (16 months) for false accounting of 10 billion Lire (about 5 million euro) in some of Silvio Berlusconi’s bank accounts.
Appeal Court: acquitted on the charge. The court gave him the benefit of the doubt (not proven).

Bribing a judge on Lodo Mondadori : not guilty (statute of limitations)

First court: A Prima facie case was issued, but the magistrate decided to drop the charges. The state attorney refused to file the case and appealed against the ruling.
Appeal Court: statute of limitations expired before the appeal was completed so Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted.

False accounting on All Iberian 2 : not guilty (law changed)

First Court: on September 26, 2005 Berlusconi was acquitted because the new law on false accounting makes false accounting illegal only if there is a specific damaged party reporting the fact to the authorities.[1] This new law was passed by Berlusconi’s parliamentary majority after the beginning of the trial, and was claimed by the opposition to be an ad personam law, i.e. aimed at acquitting Berlusconi.

False accounting on Fininvest Media Group Consolidated : not guilty (statute of limitations)

Allegation: 750 million euro of illegal (black) funds stored by Fininvest in 64 offshore companies. The statute of limitations expired due to the new laws on false accounting approved by Berlusconi’s government, therefore an acquittal was given because no specific damaged party reported it to the government.

Embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting on Macherio estates : not guilty (statute of limitations)

First Court: acquitted for embezzlement and tax fraud, the statute of limitations expired before a verdict was reached on the two cases of false accounting.
Appeal Court: acquitted for embezzlement, tax fraud and the first case of false accounting; statute of limitations expired for the second, therefore the case was closed.

False accounting on Lentini affair : not guilty (law changed)

Allegation: 5 million euros paid secretly to Torino football club for buying the player Gianluigi Lentini bringing him to AC Milan.
First court: The statute of limitations expired due to the new laws on false accounting approved by Berlusconi’s government, therefore the case was closed with an acquittal on July 4, 2002.[2]

False accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud on Mediaset television and cinema rights : not guilty (not proven)

Mr Berlusconi was on trial in relation to transactions carried out by the Berlusconi family’s media company Mediaset in the 1990s. Prosecutors suspected two offshore firms controlled by a Berlusconi family holding, Fininvest, bought television and cinema rights from a US firm. The companies, it was alleged, then sold the rights on at inflated prices to Mediaset, also controlled by Fininvest, to avoid Italian taxes and create a slush fund. The trial started on November 21, 2006. The court acquitted Berlusconi, giving him the benefit of the doubt (not proven).

Corrupting a judge and false accounting on SME-Ariosto : not guilty

At its outset, the trial SME-Ariosto involved both Cesare Previti and Silvio Berlusconi. Subsequently a bill was approved by the Italian parliament, the so called “Lodo Maccanico” act (also known as “Lodo Schifani”, after the name of Renato Schifani, the lawyer of Berlusconi and now speaker of the Italian Senate who was also a member of parliament working on the law). This law guaranteed immunity to the five highest officers of the state (premier, president of the Republic, Senate’s speaker, Deputy Chamber’s speaker, Constitutional Court’s president) during their period in office. To avoid complete suspension of the trial, the Court of Milan split it into two parts, one regarding Cesare Previti, the other Silvio Berlusconi. The Cesare Previti part of the trial resulted in a guilty verdict. In the other part (regarding Silvio Berlusconi) the Italian Prime Minister’s innocence had still not been proven but the case had to be stopped because of the “Lodo Maccanico”‘ immunity act. On 16 April 2004 the Constitutional Court declared that the “Lodo Maccanico” violated articles n. 3 and 34 of the Italian Constitution, [2] therefore this immunity act was declared unconstitutional and the trial resumed. After 12 years of trial, Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted on April 27, 2007, because of art.530 comma 2 (”He didn’t’ commit the fact”, i.e. full acquittal).

Tax fraud on Telecinco : not guilty

Mr Berlusconi has been indicted in Spain for charges of tax fraud and violation of anti-trust laws regarding the private TV network Telecinco. All the accused have been acquitted by the Spanish “Corte de Casacion” in July 2008.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trials_involving_Silvio_Berlusconi

With full-fledged integrity Obama shows what he thinks of Berlusconi during visit to US senate 2006