See what happened to Ex-Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi Who Described Himself As ‘Jesus Christ’

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Former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has died in a hospital in Milan, aged 86.

The politician passed away on Monday after recently being diagnosed with leukemia, BBC reports.

Berlusconi, who once described himself as the “Jesus Christ of politics”, was known to be a very flamboyant politician and one of Italy’s most colourful public figures.

The billionaire businessman served as Prime Minister for three terms, a total of nine years.

Most of his time in office was surrounded by several scandals which usually ended up in court.

Charges ranged from corruption and bribery to tax evasion, to sleeping with an underage prostitute. He was, however, only convicted of one charge, tax evasion in a deal involving television rights which led the court to ban him from holding political office.

In 2013, Berlusconi was voted out of Parliament, but he re-emerged on the political scene in 2018 as an elder statesman within his political party, Forza Italia.

Later in 2018, the Court of Milan granted him rehabilitation and lifted the political ban. He promptly announced his intention to run for a seat in the European Parliament.

He was elected in May 2019, at 83 years old, and remained in office as a Member of the European Parliament at the time of his death.

Before politics, Berlusconi made a name as a successful businessman, becoming the richest man in Italy at one point.

He amassed his wealth as a major property developer before diversifying into TV by setting up a television company, Telemilano.