A TRIUMPHANT Silvio Berlusconi hailed his acquittal on corruption charges by a Milan court yesterday, saying he had never doubted he would be cleared.

But the Left said that on one of the two charges — bribing a judge to favour his business empire — he had only got off on a technicality, and had lost his moral stature as Italy’s leader.

Signor Berlusconi was the first serving Italian prime minister to be tried on criminal charges, and the centre-left Opposition, led by Romano Prodi, had demanded that Signor Berlusconi resign and concede early elections if condemned.

He was fully acquitted on the charge that he had bribed judges in the 1980s to thwart a rival’s attempt to buy SME, a state-owned food company. But he was acquitted of putting a judge, Renato Squillante, on the payroll of his Fininvest company in case it needed legal help only because the court invoked a statute of limitations.

The judgment implied that the judges found the evidence against Signor Berlusconi convincing but could not sentence him because of the time limit. His lawyers said they would appeal for Signor Berlusconi to be completely exonerated.

An Italian court can accept “mitigating circumstances” for a defendant with a clean criminal record and reduce the usual 15-year statute of limitations. In this case the charges related to alleged bribery in the mid-1980s and again in 1991.

“Once again Berlusconi has got off the hook thanks to the statute of limitations,” said Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-corruption magistrate and now a centre-left senator. “The Prime Minister put judges on his payroll, and therefore does not have the moral stature to be our national leader.”

Signor Berlusconi’s lawyers said: “He has been cleared, and that is that.” The Prime Minister himself, in an oblique reference to the length of the trial, declared: “Better late than never. I was right to be serene, knowing full well that I had done nothing wrong.”

Signor Berlusconi’s supporters saw the verdict as giving the embattled leader and media tycoon a vital boost when his Forza Italia party is slumping in the polls, workers are protesting over the rising cost of living, and his rival, Romano Prodi, has returned from Brussels to launch a bitter personal battle to regain power for the Centre Left. It also spared Signor Berlusconi the embarrassment of appearing alongside world leaders next week having been convicted of corruption.

Next Tuesday he is due to hold talks with Tony Blair in London before travelling to Washington to meet President Bush. Both have praised Signor Berlusconi as a staunch ally over Iraq, where Italy has deployed 3,000 troops and police. Signor Berlusconi meets fellow European leaders at the European Union summit in Brussels next Thursday and Friday.

Prosecutors had asked for an eight-year sentence, but the Prime Minister had appeared confident of acquittal, declaring that instead of being convicted he deserved a medal for his services to the nation. Signor Berlusconi has faced numerous corruption charges related to his business empire since he entered politics a decade ago.

In previous trials he has been acquitted, his convictions have been reversed on appeal or annulled because of the statute of limitations.

The SME trial started in March 2000 but was halted after the passage of a government-backed law that gave the Prime Minister and four other top office-holders immunity from prosecution.

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