Verdini gets 2-yr suspended sentence

(ANSA) - Rome, March 17 - A Rome court on Thursday found Senator Denis Verdini, a former top aide of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, guilty of corruption in contracts for the construction of a military academy in Florence and gave him a suspended two-year prison term.
    Angelo Balducci, former head of Italy's Superior Council of Public Works, Fabio De Santis, former public works commissioner in Tuscany, businessman Francesco Maria De Vito Piscicelli and real estate developer Riccardo Fusi had already received definitive convictions in relation to the case.
    Verdini, whose small Liberal Popular Alliance - Autonomies (ALA) group has recently given essential backing to Premier Matteo Renzi's government for key reforms, was found to have facilitated Fusi in his affairs and orchestrated De Santis' appointment as public works commissioner.