Mr. Berlusconi is popular with Italians, many of whom do not seem to hold him accountable for his string of convictions for bribery and accounting irregularities.
Once large enough, they could effectively get away with money laundering, tax evasion, bid-rigging, bribery, and accounting fraud.
He still faces trials on other charges of bribery and false accounting.
(That said, developed countries also have a history of preventing sensitive cases from being heard. Witness the UK government's decision in 2006 to end an investigation into alleged bribery and false accounting in BAE's arms deals with Saudi Arabia).
Even Mr Berlusconi's manifold problems with the law (he has been convicted of bribery and false accounting, acquitted of similar charges, and has a couple of other trials coming up) do not appear to be doing him much political harm.
"The only thing that was missing in our politics is rewarding those who have confessed to bribery and irregular accounting behavior with fiscal gifts and special privileges for their projects," Libertad Martínez, a Madrid assemblywoman who is a member of opposition party United Left, said in a statement.
Over the years, he has been tried more than a dozen times for fraud, false accounting or bribery.
The prime minister has himself been charged with crimes including false accounting and bribery, though none of the charges have ultimately stuck.
Mr. Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, is currently on trial on charges of false accounting and bribery in connection with his past business dealings.
It is just one of a string of criminal cases Mr Berlusconi has had to fight off, with charges ranging from false accounting to bribery, while keeping his political career and business empire in shape.
