Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will ask to serve a tax fraud sentence in community service, rather than under house arrest, his lawyer told newswire AGI late on Saturday.

The centre-right leader, 77, was found guilty of falsely recording the price paid for television rights by his Mediaset television empire to pay less tax. He was given a four-year sentence in August, commuted to one year, to be served under house arrest or in community service due to his age.

Lawyer Franco Coppi told the newswire he would present the request to work for social services to a Milan court this week, and that the details would be agreed afterwards. Coppi did not respond to a request to confirm the comments.

Community service can embrace a vast range of activities from looking after elderly people and disabled people to helping with housing projects or environmental work. It was not, however, clear how this might work out for billionaire Berlusconi whom few Italians could imagine cleaning up a park, for instance, or sweeping a pavement.