Berlusconi tax rap over, sex trial D-day looms

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi wound up a community service sentence for tax fraud Friday, days before Italy's top court reviews his acquittal for buying sex from underage dancer "Ruby the Heart Stealer".
The ageing media magnate waved and grinned as he clocked in for his final compulsory visit to a centre for the elderly and for people with Alzheimer's which he has visited weekly for the past 10 months.
"The time spent with the sick, with the volunteers, with the health and social workers, has been a moving experience," he said in a statement, adding that he intends to "continue the experience" in his free time.
A supporter held up a sign reading, "Silvio I am all yours until my last breath," as the ex-premier and former cruise-ship crooner said goodbye to patients and staff he reportedly serenaded during his visits.
The 78-year-old was definitively convicted of tax fraud in 2013.
He regains his freedom of movement from Sunday, leaving behind a curfew and restrictions which allowed him to travel to Rome for business just three days a week.
- 'Besieged by women' -
But his relief may be short lived.
On Tuesday Italy's Court of Cassation reviews his acquittal in the so-called "bunga bunga" trial -- named after sexual acts which allegedly took place in an underground orgy room in his luxury villa.
It could decide to send the case back to an appeals court, putting Berlusconi at risk once more of a guilty verdict.
The three-times ex-premier was found guilty in June 2013 of paying for sex with then underage exotic dancer Karima El-Mahroug -- better known by her stage name "Ruby the Heart Stealer" -- and abusing his power to cover it up.
He was sentenced to seven years in jail and slapped with a lifetime ban on holding public office.
In July last year an appeals court cleared him of both charges, however, saying there was no evidence the billionaire had either abused his power or knew the Moroccan-born dancer was 17.
Prosecutors had accused Berlusconi of pressuring the police while he was still prime minister to release El-Mahroug from custody when she was arrested for theft -- apparently out of concern that she could reveal their liaison.
He insists he only made the call because he thought she was then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's niece.
The playboy politician was back in the newspapers Friday after the release of wiretapped phone conversations from 2009 with businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini, who is on trial for allegedly procuring prostitutes for Berlusconi.
In the wiretaps, made public in the trial on Thursday, the ex-premier said press reports he had sex with minors were "crazy" but he rhapsodised about being "besieged" by women.
"My problem has always been that women fall in love with me. It's something I've suffered from all my life," he said.
- Possible come-back bid -
A victory in the Ruby case could see Berlusconi begin to claw back some credibility on the political scene -- and political observers have not ruled out a possible re-election bid in 2018.
Berlusconi's popularity was hit hard by the sex scandal and he is languishing in the polls according to the Piepoli Institute.
His approval rating currently stands at 16 percent, compared to centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's 48 percent and 27 percent for the right's Matteo Salvini, head of the Northern League and contender to Berlusconi's throne.
Three years after completing his tax fraud sentence Berlusconi will be able to request his slate be wiped clean, according to Italian media reports, meaning the magnate could run for a fourth stint as prime minister.
The owner of football club AC Milan is plagued by other legal woes, but they are not considered likely to hamper his ambitions for a return to the starlight.
He is under investigation for allegedly paying off witnesses -- young women who attended his famous soirees -- to provide false testimony in the Ruby trial.
Judges in that trial have asked authorities in Mexico to investigate the purchase by former pole-dancer El-Mahroug of an apartment block, a restaurant and a food factory in Playa del Carmen, media reports said.
Berlusconi is also embroiled in an ongoing trial for allegedly bribing a senator with three million euros ($4.0 million) in 2006 to join his party and destabilise a centre-left government -- but that case is set to time out in late 2015.