Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died at 86 on Monday (June 12), according to reports in the Italian media. In April, he was treated for a lung infection linked to a previously undisclosed case of chronic leukaemia, BBC reported.

Known for numerous controversies surrounding his personal wealth, tax fraud charges and one conviction for soliciting sex from a minor girl and more, Berlusconi was at the helm in Italy for several terms: (1994, 2001–06, and 2008–11). He dominated both politics and business, with the ownership of several media channels and the football club AC Milan, and the leadership of Forza Italia, a centre-right party.

The party is now a member of a coalition with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after elections last September. Despite Meloni’s support for Ukraine, on his 86th birthday, on September 29, Putin is said to have sent Berlusconi best wishes and vodka, and the Italian boasted that he sent back Italian wine.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died at 86 on Monday (June 12), according to reports in the Italian media. In April, he was treated for a lung infection linked to a previously undisclosed case of chronic leukaemia, BBC reported.

Known for numerous controversies surrounding his personal wealth, tax fraud charges and one conviction for soliciting sex from a minor girl and more, Berlusconi was at the helm in Italy for several terms: (1994, 2001–06, and 2008–11). He dominated both politics and business, with the ownership of several media channels and the football club AC Milan, and the leadership of Forza Italia, a centre-right party.

The party is now a member of a coalition with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after elections last September. Despite Meloni’s support for Ukraine, on his 86th birthday, on September 29, Putin is said to have sent Berlusconi best wishes and vodka, and the Italian boasted that he sent back Italian wine.

With his formidable business empire, perpetual tan, frequently unsavoury comments about women and minorities, and his ability to emerge out of all kinds of scandals, he understandably drew comparisons to former US President Donald Trump.

All in all, he faced 35 criminal court cases, but was only convicted once definitively – in a 2012 tax fraud case regarding the sale of movie rights in his business empire. Investigations targeted the tycoon’s so-called “bunga bunga” parties involving young women and minors, but ultimately did not lead to convictions.

The previous year’s conviction was upheld in 2013 by Italy’s top criminal court, but he was spared prison because of his age, then 76, and was ordered to do community service. This also meant a six-year ban from holding political office or running for it. He was next elected to the European Parliament at age 82 and then last year to the Italian Senate. Berlusconi’s party was eclipsed as the dominant force on Italy’s political right by the likes of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.

Among his controversial statements was him telling players of his Monza soccer team he would bring “a bus of w***** into the locker room” if they managed to beat a top rival.

In 2010, he was condemned by the Vatican’s official newspaper after he told a joke playing on Jewish stereotypes, about a Jewish person who charges fellow Jews to hide in his basement from the Nazis, without telling them World War Two is over.

In 2006, he said, “I am the Jesus Christ of politics… I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone.”

He has also said that Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was “benign” and that the West “should be conscious of the superiority of our civilisation.” He said that while the West has a value system “that has given people widespread prosperity in those countries that embrace it, and guarantees respect for human rights and religion… This respect certainly does not exist in the Islamic countries.”

(With inputs from agencies)