Prosecution claims Italian PM exchanged a string of texts and calls with the underage belly dancer he allegedly paid for sex
Prosecution claims Italian PM exchanged a string of texts and calls with the underage belly dancer he allegedly paid for sex
Silvio Berlusconi contacted a teenage belly dancer at the centre of the sex scandal threatening the Italian prime minister 53 times in three months, it has been claimed.
The details emerged yesterday as 74-year-old Berlusconi failed to turn up for the start of the trial in which he is accused of paying an under-age prostitute for sex.
Protesters chant slogans and demand for a fair trial outside the court. Ruby, who was allegedly paid
for sex
According to leaked prosecution papers Berlusconi and Karima El Mahroug exchanged numerous text messages and calls between February and May of last year. During that period it is alleged she was paid to have sex with him.
Berlusconi, who failed to turn up in court yesterday, stands accused of paying for sex with the Moroccan-born beauty when she was 17 illegal under Italian law.
He is alleged to have paid El Mahroug in cash and jewels before using his influence to get her released from police custody over unrelated theft accusations. Berlusconi's lawyer Giorgio Perroni told the court yesterday, "The prime minister cannot attend this hearing because he is tied up with meetings about the Libyan situation."
A panel of judges, made up of three women, declared Berlusconi was in contempt of court. The premier is said to have entertained dozens of women at his home at Arcore dubbed Hardcore near Milan during his famed bunga bunga parties.
The women, mainly models and beauty queens, are said to have dressed as police officers, nurses and in the strip of AC Milan, the football team he owns.
But Berlusconi has previously laughed off the allegations, saying that having sex with 33 women "would be impossible for a man of 30 let alone 74". The hearing was put back to May 31.u00a0
Madam to be MPSILVIO Berlusconi planned to make his alleged "madam" a member of Italy's national Parliament, according to wiretap transcripts published. One of the transcripts is a conversation said to be between him and Nicole Minetti, who emerged from obscurity to become a member ofu00a0 Berlusconi's party.
