Milan, April 15 (IANS): A Milan court has ruled that former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi must do one-year community service for tax fraud, BBC reported Tuesday.
He was convicted of tax fraud last year in connection with TV rights purchased by his firm Mediaset in the 1990s.
The alternative to community service had been house arrest. It is not yet clear what form his community service will take.
The 77-year-old billionaire has been embroiled in a string of court cases.
He was spared prison in the Mediaset case because the Italian legal system is lenient to the over-70s.
Berlusconi is likely to work one half-day a week at a home for elderly and disabled people near his estate outside Milan, according to Italian media.