Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave a foretaste of how he may defend himself when he goes back on trial for corruption next month, attacking the Italian judicial system as overrun by "communists" out to destroy him.
“The real Italian anomaly is not Silvio Berlusconi but communist prosecutors and communist judges in Milan who have attacked him again and again since he entered politics and decided to attack the power of the communists," an angry Mr Berlusconi said on television last night.
The comment in a telephone call to the show from his home, was his first public reaction to a ruling by a Milan court hours earlier which upheld a conviction against British lawyer David Mills for accepting a bribe from Mr Berlusconi in 1997.
Mr Mills is appealing that verdict, which one of Berlusconi's lawyers called "diabolical", to Italy's highest court. Berlusconi will be tried separately in that case.
"Is Silvio Berlusconi really the most criminal businessman in the history of the world," said Mr Berlusconi, who has long accused Italy's judiciary of being politically biased.
He also branded the television show he called from his sickbed - political sources say he is suffering from scarlet fever - "a festival of slander and falsehoods financed by the taxpayer".
Mr Berlusconi has been in high combative gear since Italy's top court this month ruled his temporary protection from prosecution while he holds office, until then guaranteed by a law passed by his government, violated the constitution.
The ruling meant a number of corruption trials against the 73-year-old prime minister that had been suspended by the law will either resume where they left off or start again.
One trial, which involved the acquisition of TV rights by Mediaset, his television empire, is due to resume on November 16th. Prosecutors say Mediaset bought the rights at an inflated price in the 1990s from two offshore companies controlled by Mr Berlusconi, who is accused of tax fraud and false accounting in that case.
Mr Berlusconi has said he will attend the trials - which he does not have to do under Italian law - and help his lawyers in his own defence. He claims to have spent €200 million in legal fees since he entered politics.
The prime minister’s legal problems, on the heels of a spate of sexual scandals, coincide with signs his popularity may be slipping.
A poll on Sunday in the Corriere della Seranewspaper showed the approval rating for his government has fallen steadily in recent months to 44 per cent compared to 54 per cent at the start of the year.
But Mr Berlusconi, in his call to the television show, contested these figures, saying his own polls show the government still has a 54 per cent approval rating that his own personal popularity rating among Italians is 68 per cent.