Berlusconi, 86, was charged with allegedly paying Italian singer Mariano Apicella 175,000 euro to lie in a prior trial in which he was accused of paying for intercourse with a 17-year-old Moroccan night club dancer.
Berlusconi, the leader of the Forza Italia party, which backs Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s newly formed government as one third of Italy’s right wing coalition, was eventually acquitted in the aforementioned case.
He then pleaded not guilty to the subsequent bribery trial, and on Thursday, Rome prosecutor Roberto Felici told the court that charges should be dropped.
The judges agreed, and also acquitting Apicella of receiving bribes and additionally clearing him of perjury allegations because the time limit for reaching a verdict had passed.
"This was an impeccable ruling, because there was no evidence of corrupt deals," Berlusconi's lawyer Franco Coppi told reporters, adding that his client had called him to express satisfaction with the verdict.
Apicella regularly attended Berlusconi's ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties, which triggered the scandal contributing to the media magnate's downfall as prime minister in 2011 and marked the end of his fourth government.
Berlusconi was eventually expelled from parliament in 2013, after his conviction in a tax fraud case. He won a seat in the upper house Senate in September after his ban on holding elected office expired.
The defence said that Apicella had been given monthly contributions from Berlusconi since 2002, fees and donations, unrelated to the charges brought before the court.
The trial in Rome is one of three interconnected cases which have been prosecuted in different cities for reasons of territorial jurisdiction.
In a separate case pending at a Milan court, Berlusconi is accused of bribing 24 witnesses, mostly young guests at his infamous parties. Prosecutors in May requested the he be jailed for six years. Berlusconi has denied the charge and a verdict is not expected before January 2023.
Last year a court in Siena acquitted Berlusconi of allegedly bribing another witness to his parties. Prosecutors have appealed the ruling, but no new trial date has been set.
― With AAP.
