Rome court on Thursday ordered the disgraced billionaire founder of Italian internet company Fastweb to be released from house arrest

Rome court on Thursday ordered the disgraced billionaire founder of Italian internet company Fastweb to be released from house arrest in northern Italy at the request of his lawyers. Silvio Scaglia, 52, is currently on trial over a 2 billion euro mafia money laundering and tax fraud scam.

"I am regaining my freedom after being detained in jail and under house arrest for a year. I had lived abroad for many years, but returned to Italy to defend myself as soon as I learned of my arrest warrant," Scaglia commented from his home in the Valle d'Aosta region.
"I knew I would have to spend time in detention order to demonstrate my lack of involvement in every alleged crime. I never imagined such a protracted and tormented ordeal, however."
But I respect the Italian justice system. I remain convinced it was right to hand myself in and am counting on the current trial to prove my innocence," Scaglia stated.
Scaglia is among 36 suspects including former Fastweb executives of who are getting a fast-trial with no preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors allege that Scaglia and executives at Fastweb and Telecom Italia's Sparkle unit were aware of suspect purchase and sale of telecoms services between 2003 and 2006, valued at 2 billion euros that enabled the companies to garner up to 400 million euros in allegedly illegal tax credits.
Prosecutors believe that as chief executive at the time of the alleged scheme, Scaglia must have been aware of illegal operations going on at Fastweb, Italy's second largest telecommunications company.
Scaglia was chief executive in 2007 when Swisscom acquired the firm. He resigned from Fastweb's board in March 2010 after his arrest on 26 February that year.
He spent nearly three months in jail before being granted house arrest.