Milan - An Italian court yesterday acquitted media mogul and political opposition leader Mr Silvio Berlusconi of tax avoidance and financial irregularity charges.
Prosecutors had accused Mr Berlusconi, head of the Fininvest empire, of tax avoidance by allegedly declaring less than the official price paid for land surrounding his luxury villa near Milan and of falsifying balance sheets. Mr Berlusconi, who leads the opposition centre-right Freedom Alliance bloc, had denied the charges.