The Italian media mogul himself claims
to have spent more than 200 million euros on lawyers to defend him.
In 2009 he declared he was "absolutely the most persecuted man by the
judiciary in all the history of the entire world".
Mr Berlusconi is currently on trial
in a court in Milan on charges of abuse of office and paying for sex with an
alleged under-age prostitute, a Moroccan-born erotic dancer nicknamed 'Ruby the
Heart Stealer'. He is alleged to have tried to hush up the affair by having her
released from police custody in Milan after she was arrested on suspicion of
stealing from a female acquaintance. Mr Berlusconi denies the charges.
But he has never been definitively convicted of any crime.
He has either defeated the charges on appeal – under Italian law he is
entitled to two levels of appeal – or the cases have timed out under Italy’s
statute of limitations.
Here are some of the most significant allegations of the past 22 years.
In 1990 Mr Berlusconi was declared guilty of false testimony over his membership of "Progaganda 2", a right-wing Masonic lodge which was described as a "state within a state" and counted among its members prominent industrialists, politicians, military leaders and journalists.
However, an amnesty passed the previous year meant that a court did not pass sentence on Mr Berlusconi.
In 1994, shortly after he was elected as prime minister for the first time, he was accused of bribing a member of the financial police. He was sentenced in 1997 to 33 months in prison but was acquitted on appeal in 2000 because the time limit for the offence expired.
In 1995 Mr Berlusconi was accused of having bought the football player Gianluigi Lentini for his AC Milan club with money from a slush fund. The signing for £13m in 1992 made Lentini the world's most expensive player at the time and the subsequent allegations attracted worldwide attention. However, in 2002 Mr Berlusconi pushed a law through parliament which partially decriminalised false accounting, and ensured that he would not stand trial for the accusations.
Again in 1995 Mr Berlusconi was accused of false accounting in his purchase of the Medusa cinema company, and he was later sentenced to 16 months in prison in 1997. However, he was acquitted on appeal in 2000. That judgment was upheld by the Italian supreme court in 2001.
Also in 1995 the Italian premier was accused of illegally financing the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) through an offshore company. He was sentenced to two years and four months in jail for paying 21 billion lire (about 10 million euros, or £8.3 million) to Bettino Craxi, his mentor and a former prime minister, via an offshore bank account code-named "All Iberian". But the case was later dropped because the limitation period expired.
In 1998 Mr Berlusconi was accused of bribing a judge during his holding company Fininvest's buy-out of the Mondadori publishing house. A prima facie case was issued, but the magistrate decided to drop the charges. The state attorney appealed against that decision. At the appeal level the case timed out under the statute of limitations.
Again in 1998, Mr Berlusconi was accused of bribing judges to block the buy-out of the food industry conglomerate SME by the Italian industrialist Carlo De Benedetti in 1985. The supreme court acquitted Mr Berlusconi in 2007.
In March 2006, Milan prosecutors asked a judge to order David Mills, a British lawyer and the estranged husband of former cabinet minister Tessa Jowell, and Mr Berlusconi to stand trial on corruption charges. Mills was sentenced in February 2009 to four years and six months in prison for accepting a £400,000 bribe from Mr Berlusconi to give false evidence on his behalf in corruption trials in 1997 and 1998.
The sentence was overturned a year later. Mr Berlusconi was jointly accused when the trial began but his government passed a law last year giving the prime minister and other top Italian officials immunity from prosecution.
In July 2008, Mr Berlusconi and others were acquitted by a Spanish court after being indicted for charges of tax fraud and violation of antitrust laws regarding the private TV network Telecinco.
In 1990 Mr Berlusconi was declared guilty of false testimony over his membership of "Progaganda 2", a right-wing Masonic lodge which was described as a "state within a state" and counted among its members prominent industrialists, politicians, military leaders and journalists.
However, an amnesty passed the previous year meant that a court did not pass sentence on Mr Berlusconi.
In 1994, shortly after he was elected as prime minister for the first time, he was accused of bribing a member of the financial police. He was sentenced in 1997 to 33 months in prison but was acquitted on appeal in 2000 because the time limit for the offence expired.
In 1995 Mr Berlusconi was accused of having bought the football player Gianluigi Lentini for his AC Milan club with money from a slush fund. The signing for £13m in 1992 made Lentini the world's most expensive player at the time and the subsequent allegations attracted worldwide attention. However, in 2002 Mr Berlusconi pushed a law through parliament which partially decriminalised false accounting, and ensured that he would not stand trial for the accusations.
Again in 1995 Mr Berlusconi was accused of false accounting in his purchase of the Medusa cinema company, and he was later sentenced to 16 months in prison in 1997. However, he was acquitted on appeal in 2000. That judgment was upheld by the Italian supreme court in 2001.
Also in 1995 the Italian premier was accused of illegally financing the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) through an offshore company. He was sentenced to two years and four months in jail for paying 21 billion lire (about 10 million euros, or £8.3 million) to Bettino Craxi, his mentor and a former prime minister, via an offshore bank account code-named "All Iberian". But the case was later dropped because the limitation period expired.
In 1998 Mr Berlusconi was accused of bribing a judge during his holding company Fininvest's buy-out of the Mondadori publishing house. A prima facie case was issued, but the magistrate decided to drop the charges. The state attorney appealed against that decision. At the appeal level the case timed out under the statute of limitations.
Again in 1998, Mr Berlusconi was accused of bribing judges to block the buy-out of the food industry conglomerate SME by the Italian industrialist Carlo De Benedetti in 1985. The supreme court acquitted Mr Berlusconi in 2007.
In March 2006, Milan prosecutors asked a judge to order David Mills, a British lawyer and the estranged husband of former cabinet minister Tessa Jowell, and Mr Berlusconi to stand trial on corruption charges. Mills was sentenced in February 2009 to four years and six months in prison for accepting a £400,000 bribe from Mr Berlusconi to give false evidence on his behalf in corruption trials in 1997 and 1998.
The sentence was overturned a year later. Mr Berlusconi was jointly accused when the trial began but his government passed a law last year giving the prime minister and other top Italian officials immunity from prosecution.
In July 2008, Mr Berlusconi and others were acquitted by a Spanish court after being indicted for charges of tax fraud and violation of antitrust laws regarding the private TV network Telecinco.
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