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© Associated PressSilvio Berlusconi (right) was accused of paying $600,000 to British lawyer David Mills (left) for his court evidence during two trials in the 1990s.
Judges rule that statute of limitations has run out on case involving payment of $600,000 to British lawyer David Mills

Silvio Berlusconi's trial for bribing the British lawyer David Mills has failed to reach a verdict after judges ruled that the statute of limitations has run out on the case.

Prosecutors had requested that the former Italian prime minister serve five years for allegedly paying $600,000 (£380,000) to Mills, the estranged husband of former Labour cabinet minister Tessa Jowell, to withhold evidence on his behalf in two trials in the 1990s. Berlusconi denied the charges.

Mills was convicted in 2009 on bribery charges, but his conviction was overturned by Italy's highest court after the statute of limitations expired.

Disputes between prosecutors and defence lawyers over exactly when Berlusconi's charges would time out arose after repeated delays in hearings due to his obligations as prime minister and after an immunity law he passed temporarily stopped the five-year trial.

In a statement released before the judge's ruling on Saturday, Berlusconi alleged prosecutors had wrongfully brought forward the date of the alleged offence to try to squeeze a verdict in before the charges timed out.

Prosecutor Fabio de Pasquale said as he left the courtroom that it was "useless to comment".

Marco Travaglio, a journalist critical of Berlusconi, said: "This is the sixth time the statute of limitations has stopped a trial involving Berlusconi. Anywhere else in the world the clock is stopped on the statute of limitations when the trial starts, but here it keeps on going. Moreover, the statute of limitations for this kind of trial used to be 15 years, until Berlusconi changed it to 10 in 2005."

One of Berlusconi's lawyers, Piero Longo, suggested that the defence team was not thrilled by the verdict because it wanted an acquittal, Sky TG24 TV said.

In his statement Berlusconi claimed he did not remember having met Mills.

"Mills was one of many lawyers abroad that occasionally worked for the Fininvest group. I don't recall ever having met him," he said.

He said Mills had received the $600,000 from an Italian arms dealer for some legal work and had made up the story that the money had been a gift from a Fininvest employee, who had since died, to avoid paying 50% tax on earnings.

Berlusconi is currently a defendant in three other trials involving charges of fraud, illegal publication of wiretaps and underage prostitution.

The 75-year-old stepped down as prime minister in November after failing to come up with convincing reforms to help Italy tackle the sovereign debt crisis.