Previously the head of a private clinic, he is reputed to have been close to the jailed former "boss of bosses", Bernardo Provenzano.

BBC: File photo of Salvatore Cuffaro in Palermo, 2002

Appeal court judges rejected a testimony from one Mafia turncoat who said he had seen Mr Andreotti kiss the now imprisoned Mafia "boss of bosses" Toto Riina.

BBC: Andreotti escapes conviction

Business journalists have taken to producing glowing profiles of self-effacing and self-denying bosses such as Haruka Nishimatsu, the boss of Japan Airlines, who travels to work on the bus and pays himself less than his pilots, and Mike Eskew, the former boss of UPS, who flew coach and shares an administrative assistant with three other people.

ECONOMIST: Schumpeter