(ANSA) - Palermo, February 9 - One of Italy's mafia superbosses was entitled to claim legal aid on poverty grounds, a Palermo court ruled on Tuesday. Justice Salvatore Flaccovio acquitted jailed Mafia head Leoluca Bagarella on charges he had lied in order to claim state-funded legal assistance.

The charges arose from a claim for legal aid made by Bagarella when he was standing trial for mafia-related offences in 2004. Under the Italian legal system, defendants are entitled to state-funded legal assistance in criminal proceedings if their household annual income is below 9,000 euros.

The Public Prosecutor's Office alleged Bagarella had tried to fiddle the system because, although he was in prison at the time, his sisters had a combined income of above 10,000 euros. But the Palermo court found his sisters' income was not relevant to that of Bagarella, who has been in prison for nearly 15 years. As such, his claim of poverty was not fraudulent and his application for legal aid was valid, said Flaccovio.

Commenting on the ruling, Bagarella's lawyer Giovanni Anania told local daily Il Giornale di Sicilia that his client had absolutely no assets. ''The only property he had were the t-shirt and trousers he was wearing the day he was arrested in 1995, which he used to wash each evening and put on again each morning,'' claimed Anania, apparently referring to the five years Bagarella had spent on the run previously.

''Everything he had was seized by the authorities - what was he meant to pay with?'' Various pieces of undeveloped land and real estate belonging to Bagarella were seized in 2001. A further swoop in 2003 saw police impound a deluxe city apartment, home to a 184-piece silver Cartier dining set and a range of designer watches.

Bagarella had also filled the penthouse with antique furniture, jewels and fur coats, said investigators.

Bagarella, brother-in-law of Italy's most infamous boss of bosses Salvatore Riina, has been convicted of multiple counts of murder in more than 30 trials since his arrest. According to Anania, he has received legal aid in every trial. Following an amendment to the law in 2008, inmates serving time for mafia offences are no longer entitled to apply for legal aid, regardless of their income.