Andreotti definitively cleared of Italy Mafia ties

Italy's top court yesterday definitively cleared former prime minister Giulio Andreotti of charges that he had been the Mafia's political godfather in the corridors of power.

"Wonderful, wonderful," Mr Andreotti said. "I am happy to have reached the end of this trial alive. Some people would have liked me to have died before but here I am."

In a ruling that was widely expected, the highest appeals court in Italy upheld the verdict of two previous trials in the Sicilian capital Palermo that had cleared the statesman.

Still, it marked the final end to a judicial saga that began in 1993 when Mr Andreotti was first accused of having protected the interests of the international crime group.

"There is great satisfaction today," said Mr Andreotti's lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno. "After 12 years the nightmare is finally over."

Mr Andreotti, now a life senator who served as prime minister seven times, has always maintained his innocence. His name is synonymous with political survival and cunning in the land that gave the world Machiavelli.

The statesman, who was known as "Mr Italy" abroad because he held virtually all positions of power short of the presidency during his career, was first cleared by a Palermo court in 1999.

The most shocking allegation against Mr Andreotti had been that he had exchanged a kiss of respect with "boss of bosses" Salvatore "Toto" Riina, then Italy's most wanted man. Riina was arrested in 1993. Palermo magistrates appealed but they lost again at a second trial that ended last year.

But the second Palermo verdict, which the Rome court confirmed yesterday, said that all accusations regarding his activity before 1980 would be automatically put aside because of a statute of limitations.

Opponents of the life-senator said this would always leave a shadow of doubt over his political career.

Much of the prosecution evidence was uncorroborated testimony from Mafia turncoats whom Mr Andreotti accused of trying to settle old scores against him by lying in court.

Yesterday's high court ruling was a personal vindication for Mr Andreotti, a devout Catholic who goes to Mass every day and has been a friend of every Pope since World War Two.

Last year, the same high court in Rome definitively cleared Mr Andreotti of a charge of ordering the Mafia to kill a scandal-sheet journalist in 1979 because the reporter was about to publish material that could have harmed his career.

Italians call Mr Andreotti "the eternal Giulio" because of his political longevity and few can remember a time when he was not on the national stage.

Mr Andreotti was a living symbol of the now-defunct Christian Democrat (DC) party that ruled Italy for nearly half a century until it collapsed in a blaze of corruption scandals in the early 1990s.

Supporters say he helped transform Italy from a war-devastated agricultural backwater to an industrial power.