Italian premier Mr Silvio Berlusconi told a court trying him on corruption charges he had participated in the contested business deal only to serve the best interests of his nation.
The billionaire businessman is accused of bribing judges in Rome to sway in his favour a ruling on the sale of former state-controlled food company SME in the 1980s.
The premier said then-Premier Mr Bettino Craxi asked him to get involved because the arranged sale-price of the company was too low.
"I had no direct interest and Craxi begged me to intervene because he believed the operation damaged the state," the premier told the court in Milan.
Mr Craxi was among those who fell from power amid corruption investigations in the 1990s.
Mr Berlusconi has always denied any wrongdoing and portrayed himself as the victim of a political vendetta carried out by left-leaning prosecutors.
AP