FORMER Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has obtained another postponement of one of his trials, as judges agreed to adjourn a hearing on his tax fraud appeal trial.
In October, Berlusconi was handed a four-year jail term, reduced to one year because of a remit law, because his family firm Mediaset created an offshore scheme to reduce its tax bill. He said he was prime minister at the time and knew nothing of it.
The Milan court hearing the case accepted a request by Berlusconi's lawyers to postpone a hearing that was set for Saturday, because Berlusconi was busy in Rome for the election of the new speakers of the houses of parliament.
Under Italian law, defendants do not have to be present in court.
But if they claim they want to follow a hearing but have a "legitimate impediment" preventing them from doing so, judges may agree to adjourn proceedings.
Saturday's hearing was moved to March 23, the day on which, according to the original schedule, an appeal verdict was due to be delivered.
The trial may be suspended again if judges agree to a request by the defence to move proceedings from Milan to Brescia. Berlusconi says this is necessary because he claims that Milan courts are biased against him.
Prosecutors have in return complained that Berlusconi is using stalling tactics to block trials against him.
Over the past week, Berlusconi has secured several postponements of hearings in his other ongoing trial in Milan, which sees him accused of soliciting an underage prostitute and of abuse of power.
The media mogul and politician has often been in the news for legal troubles. He was handed a one-year prison term for a smear campaign against a political rival, and was accused by a former lawmaker of bribing him to defect from the centre-left.
But despite the scandals, Berlusconi, a populist conservative, still holds sway with voters. In elections last month, he was only just beaten by the centre-left.
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