ROME, Oct 4 (Reuters) - An Italian Senate Committee is expected to start a process on Friday to expel Silvio Berlusconi from parliament following his conviction for tax fraud.
Berlusconi, a 77-year-old billionaire media magnate and four-times prime minister, says he has been relentlessly pursued by leftist judges trying to subvert democracy since he stormed into politics in 1994.
Following are details of some of the ongoing and recent legal cases involving Berlusconi:
* THE MEDIASET CASE
-- Italy's Supreme Court in August confirmed a conviction and jail sentence against Berlusconi for tax fraud, his first definitive conviction.
-- He was found guilty of falsely recording the price paid for television rights by his Mediaset media empire in order to pay less tax and of using offshore accounts to create a network of slush funds.
-- He was sentenced to four years in jail, commuted to one year under an amnesty. Because of his age he is likely to serve the sentence either as community service or under house arrest.
-- Top judges ordered a review by a Milan court of the second part of his sentence, a five-year ban from public office.
-- The Senate committee is deciding whether to expel Berlusconi from the Senate under legislation that bars convicted criminals from parliament.
* THE RUBY CASE
-- Berlusconi is appealing a June conviction for abuse of office and paying Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug for sex in 2010, when she was 17-years old, below the legal age for prostitution in Italy.
-- Prosecutors said El Mahroug, known by her nickname "Ruby the Heartstealer", was one of a number of prostitutes who received cash and gifts after attending Berlusconi's parties and allegedly taking part in "bunga bunga" erotic games.
-- Berlusconi was also found guilty of trying to hide his connection with El Mahroug by pressuring police to free her from custody after she was detained over separate theft allegations.
-- The court handed him a seven-year prison sentence but he will not have to serve any jail time before he has exhausted the appeals process.
-- El Mahroug has said under oath that she never had sex with Berlusconi and he denies any wrongdoing.
* THE WIRETAP CASE
-- In March a Milan court sentenced Berlusconi to one year in jail over the publication by his family's newspaper Il Giornale of a transcript of a leaked wiretap connected to a banking scandal in 2006.
-- Berlusconi remains free pending an appeal and judicial sources have said the charges may expire before an appeal trial can be completed because of the statute of limitations.
-- Piero Fassino, head of the main centre-left party at the time, said Il Giornale published the transcript, which contains remarks made by him, shortly before the 2006 election to create an impression that Fassino had exerted improper pressure in an attempted takeover of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro by insurer Unipol in 2005.
* THE MONDADORI CASE
-- Italy's Supreme Court in September ordered Berlusconi's family holding company to pay 494 million euros ($671.4 million) in damages over the disputed purchase of publisher Mondadori.
-- The case related to the 1991 battle for control of Mondadori between Fininvest and CIR and was the civil leg of a criminal trial which in 2007 found Berlusconi's former lawyer guilty of bribing a judge.
-- Berlusconi's privately held Fininvest has already paid the fine to the De Benedetti family CIR holding, founded by his arch-rival Carlo De Benedetti. The September ruling allowed CIR to access the money which was frozen pending a final decision.
-- Fininvest controls assets worth more than 5 billion euros, including Mediaset. It has always denied any wrongdoing in the case.
* THE TARANTINI CASE
-- Prosecutors in the southern city of Bari have accused Berlusconi of "inducement to give false testimony" over money he allegedly paid to businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini, his wife and a former political associate to buy their silence over his use of prostitutes.
-- Tarantini is accused of providing prostitutes for parties at Berlusconi's villa outside Milan.
-- Berlusconi has denied any wrongdoing.
* THE VOTE-BUYING CASE
-- Naples prosecutors are investigating Berlusconi on suspicion of bribing a senator to change sides in parliament as part of efforts to topple the former government of Romano Prodi.
-- The prosecutors accuse Berlusconi of having paid former senator Sergio De Gregorio 3 million euros to defect from the small Italy of Values party shortly after the 2006 parliamentary election and to join the centre right.
-- His defection hurt Prodi's government, which had a slim parliamentary majority, and contributed to its collapse in 2008.
-- Berlusconi denies the allegations.
* THE MEDIATRADE CASE
-- In March Italy's Supreme Court upheld a ruling clearing Berlusconi of tax fraud in connection with the Mediatrade broadcasting rights unit of his Mediaset group.
-- The decision clears Berlusconi of accusations that Mediatrade acquired film and television rights at inflated prices to evade 10 million euros in taxes in 2004.
* THE MILLS CASE
-- In Feb. 2012 judges ended Berlusconi's trial on charges of bribing British lawyer David Mills, saying the statute of limitations had expired and a verdict could not be reached.
-- Mills was convicted in 2009 of taking a $600,000 bribe in return for agreeing to withhold incriminating details about Berlusconi's business dealings when he testified in separate fraud trials against the former prime minister.
-- The case against Mills was shelved the following year because the statute of limitations ran out and the British lawyer was never extradited to serve his 4-1/2 year sentence.
-- Berlusconi denied paying Mills to provide untruthful court testimony. ($1 = 0.7358 euros) (Reporting By Catherine Hornby, editing by Gareth Jones)
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