Craxi, Bettino (Benedetto) (1934-2000)

Italian socialist politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) 1976-93, prime minister 1983-87. In 1993 he was one of many politicians suspected of involvement in Italy's corruption network; in 1994 he was sentenced in absentia to eight and a half years in prison for accepting bribes, and in 1995 he received a further four-year sentence for corruption. In April 1996, with other former ministers, he was found guilty of further corruption charges, and received a prison sentence of eight years and three months, but avoided imprisonment by living in self-imposed exile in Tunisia.

The most recent charges related to a scandal over the building of Milan's underground railway in the 1980s. Craxi, from his exile in Tunisia, rejected the charges as false.

Craxi was born in Milan, and became a member of the chamber of deputies in 1968 and general secretary of the PSI in 1976. In 1983 he became Italy's first socialist prime minister, successfully leading a broad coalition until 1987. In February 1993 he was forced to resign the PSI leadership in the face of mounting allegations of corruption.