David Mills, the British tax lawyer and estranged husband of Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, faces a last-ditch fight to avoid prison after an appeal court in Milan upheld his conviction for corruption yesterday. Mills was given a four-and-a-half-year sentence in March for accepting a $600,000 (£367,000) bribe from Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, to lie on his behalf in corruption trials in the 1990s.

Lawyers for Mills said that he would make a second and final appeal to the Court of Cassation, or Supreme Court, which has until April to issue a definitive conviction or acquittal under Italy’s statute of limitations. The prosecution against Mills claims that the offence was committed in April 2000. Italian law allows ten years for a definitive conviction in bribery cases.

If Mills is definitively convicted it will open the way for Mr Berlusconi to be prosecuted for giving the bribe. The case against him was suspended last year when he passed a law giving himself immunity from prosecution. The law was overturned this month by the constitutional court, which said that it violated the principle that all citizens are equal before the law.

Niccolo Ghedini, Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer, said that the appeal court decison was illogical and had been arrived at “in record time” by judges who were prejudiced against the Prime Minister.

Mills said: “My faith in the Italian justice system is becoming a trifle strained. But I am sure that when the case gets to the Supreme Court in Rome in the new year the court, which guards Italy’s legal reputation, will deliver a fair verdict.” His Italian lawyer, Federico Cecconi, added: “This is not the end. There was no corruption”.

Legal experts said that although in theory Italy could apply for Mills’s extradition if the Supreme Court turned down his final appeal he could hope for a reduced or suspended sentence. An amnesty introduced three years ago allows prison sentences for crimes other than murder or terrorism to be reduced by three years. He could also plead for further leniency as a first-time offender. He would have to pay a fine of €250,000 (£227,000) imposed by the court in March for “damage to the reputation of the Italian state”.

News that Mills had lost his first appeal came as it was announced that Mr Berlusconi is to face trial in a separate prosecution for tax fraud and false accounting next month, the first such prosecution since he lost his immunity.

The trial, in which Mr Berlusconi is accused of tax fraud and false accounting over the acquisition of TV rights by Mediaset, his television company, is to restart on November 16. According to prosecutors Mediaset bought the rights at an inflated price from offshore companies controlled by Mr Berlusconi.

After the constitutional court ruling on his immunity Mr Berlusconi said: “The two trials against me are false, laughable, absurd, and I will show this to Italians by going on television and I will defend myself in the courtroom and make my accusers look ridiculous.”

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