Berlusconi faces onslaught as immunity law quashed

The permatanned media and finance tycoon turned prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has finally met his match. After months waving away contemptuously the lurid allegations about his private life - including the use of call-girls and his friendship with an 18-year-old model - he heard the verdict yesterday of the 15 judges of Italy's Constitutional Court: that he is not above the law when it comes to charges of fraud, corruption, tax evasion and bribery.

Only six weeks after becoming prime minister in May 2008, Berlusconi pushed through a law that granted him and three others - the Italian president and the speakers of the two houses of parliament - immunity from prosecution while they are in office. He argued for the immune status on the basis that he should be allowed to govern the country without being "distracted".

Yesterday the judges ruled the law to be unconstitutional, for two reasons: it had been rushed through parliament without being subjected to proper scrutiny, and it violated the principle that every Italian must be equal before the law.

Berlusconi tried to wave their decision away just as he has the sex scandal, claiming it was all part of a left-wing plot against him. "The Constitutional Court is a political organ," he said, waving a clenched fist. "The trials against me are a farce. Viva Italia and Viva Berlusconi!."

But the judges' decision is final - there can be no appeal - and the billionaire, whose business empire encompasses Mediaset, Fininvest and AC Milan football club, now faces some hefty legal bills, with prosecutors free to reopen a number of cases against him.

They include:
♦ Mills bribery charge: Berlusconi's tax consultant David Mills, husband of the UK Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, was found guilty this year of accepting a $600,000 bribe from Berlusconi to give false testimony in two trials in the 1990s. Mills is appealing the conviction. Berlusconi escaped prosecution for bribery because of the immunity law

♦ Tax fraud: An investigation into tax fraud concerning film rights sold by his television company Mediaset is expected to be reopened.

♦ Election bribes: Berlusconi is alleged to have bribed two MPs to help bring down the previous centre-left government of Romano Prodi. An inquiry is likely.

♦ Tax evasion: A trial in Milan, suspended in 2008 because of the sudden introduction of the immunity law, can now resume.

It might normally be reasonable to say that this last case will be an embarrassment to Berlusconi because it coincides with a high-profile campaign against tax dodgers by his government. But the word 'embarrassment' does not, of course, exist in the Berlusconi lexicon. ·