Italy's sweeping corruption scandal claimed its highest-ranking figure Friday when former Premier Bettino Craxi was convicted of taking kickbacks from a bank and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison.
Craxi, however, denounced the conviction from self-imposed exile at his villa in Tunisia, saying it was "preordained" by his political enemies.Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Craxi's close friend and confidant, tried to shore up his own political credibility by promising to place his media and retail empire into a blind trust.
His Milan-based Fininvest SpA conglomerate has been linked to a growing investigation of bribery
and tax fraud that has implicated his brother and others. The $7 billion-a-year company includes three private television stations and the nation's biggest retail chain.
Craxi was one of more than 3,000 politicians and businessmen implicated in kickback scandals involving Italy's closely linked business and political worlds since 1992.
Other former prime ministers, including Giulio Andreotti, seven-time premier from the Christian Democrat Party, are under suspicion. Craxi's conviction seemed to confirm that Italy's tradition of protecting its elite classes is drawing to an end.
Craxi left Italy for Tunisia in the spring and claimed he was too sick with diabetes to return for his trial in Milan. He was tried in absentia.
But to many Italians, his prosecution is of passing consequence. The main billing is Berlusconi and his efforts to keep his 10-week-old coalition government together.
Berlusconi's younger brother, Paolo, surrendered on Friday to authorities investigating alleged bribes and tax fraud at Fininvest and was put under house arrest.
Investigators have claimed that officials at Fininvest and other companies bribed government auditors to overlook fraudulent bookkeeping and tax records. Two other Fininvest executives have been charged in the investigation, including the company's chief tax officer, Salvatore Sciascia.
News reports have said Sciascia told authorities Paolo Berlusconi authorized the payment of more than $200,000 in bribes to tax police looking at three Fininvest companies.
Paolo Berlusconi's attorneys said he told prosecutors he considered any payoff the cost of doing business in corruption-mired Italy.