Berlusconi awaits ruling from Italy's top court

Italy on Tuesday anxiously awaited a supreme court ruling on former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi that could effectively end his parliamentary career and upset the country's fragile coalition. The court is set to decide whether to confirm a one-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office for Berlusconi in a tax fraud case that is being closely followed in Italy and abroad. It would be the first definitive conviction in a 20-year legal saga for the three-time prime minister in which all charges against him have either been overturned or expired under the statute of limitations. The final appeal hearings began on Tuesday but one of Berlusconi's lawyers told reporters that the actual verdict may come on Wednesday or Thursday. Prosecutor Antonio Mura told Tuesday's hearing that Berlusconi was "the mind behind the tax fraud mechanism" at the centre of the case. "This is a trial filled with expectations and which provokes passions and emotions... But these have to remain outside this courtroom," he said. Lawyers for Berlusconi are set to present their final arguments on Wednesday before judges at the Court of Cassation retire to consider their verdict. Berlusconi is appealing a conviction that his Mediaset business empire falsely inflated the price of film distribution rights so as to avoid paying higher taxes in a case that first went to trial in 2006. In other court cases, Berlusconi has been convicted of having sex with an underage prostitute, abusing his powers as prime minister and publishing a secret police wiretap to damage a political rival. He denies all charges and is also appealing against those rulings, accusing prosecutors of being politically biased and pursuing a vendetta against him. Even if the court upholds Berlusconi's tax fraud conviction, the Senate would still have to vote to allow the sentence to be implemented since Berlusconi has a seat in the upper house of parliament. Legal experts say there is virtually no chance of Berlusconi being sent to prison because of lenient sentencing guidelines for over-70s in Italy. There is however a possibility that he could be put under house arrest in his luxury villa near Milan. The political ban would eject Berlusconi from the Senate and prevent him running for office for five years -- a damaging interdiction for the 76-year-old. But Berlusconi could stay on as a figurehead leader of the centre-right People of Freedom party he founded. The court could also acquit Berlusconi entirely or send the case back to the appeal courts for another trial -- a move that would probably mean the case expiring under a statute of limitations in 2014. Berlusconi has said he does not want the ruling to have an impact on the current government, a coalition between right and left forged after two months of political stalemate following February elections. But some of his diehard supporters are taking a harder line and threatening mass resignations from parliament, a move that could trigger fresh elections. Stefano Folli, a columnist for the Il Sole 24 Ore business daily, said the verdict had "destabilising potential" for the eurozone's third largest economy. "A convicted Berlusconi would be a martyr for his people but would also be an unacceptable ally for a large part of the left," he said. Financial markets were unperturbed on Tuesday, however, with shares in the company Berlusconi founded, Mediaset, rising sharply and borrowing costs falling for Italy on the bond markets. Predictions of Berlusconi's political demise have been vented several times before only for him to re-emerge thanks to his formidable campaign skills. Many had written him off when he was dramatically ousted from power in 2011 by sex scandals, party defections and a wave of panic on the markets. But he staged an impressive comeback in this year's elections, with his coalition coming a close second to the centre-left with nearly a third of the vote.