The courts upheld the sentence of four years in prison for tax fraud Silvio Berlusconi

The former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison for tax fraud in the sale of film rights by Mediaset case the call. With this decision the Court of Appeal of Milan upheld the first instance judgment issued by this same case the October 26, 2012. Also, the judges confirmed the five-year disqualification for public office and three years in positions in companies, but this disqualification does not start to run until there is a final judgment of the Supreme Court, the third and final judicial Italian. This judgment relates to the sale of the rights of American films broadcast by Mediaset between 1994 and 1999 , on suspicion of an artificial increase in the real price of the rights to evade Treasury and divert money to offshore accounts. The considered " silent partner " of Berlusconi in this plot, the Egyptian-born American producer Frank Agrama, for which the judges also confirmed the c ondena of three years in prison , while Mediaset group chairman, Fedele Confalonieri, was acquitted. After hearing the sentence, one of Berlusconi's attorneys, Nicolo Ghedini said before the Italian media that the decision of the judges prevailed "force of caution over the strength of the facts."