Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today arrived at a care home near Milan to begin a year of community service for tax fraud.
The billionaire will be required to spend four hours a week with elderly dementia patients at the San Pietro care home.
The 77-year-old’s original four year prison sentence in connection with the purchase of TV rights by his firm Mediaset in the 1990s was commuted to community service.
Massimo Restelli, head of care services there, told La Repubblica newspaper that Berlusconi’s introduction would be “gradual” so that he and the elderly patients could get used to each other.
“It will be small steps so as not to make any mistakes, and then he could do all sorts of things. He could help with meals, which are tricky because sometimes you have to ‘remind’ the patient that they are eating,” he said.
Last year he was convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his powers, bringing him a lifetime ban from public office.
He is appealing against the underage sex conviction.
