New audiotapes of Italian PM's dalliance with a high-end prostitute at his Rome residence have surfaced, which could hurt his future
New audiotapes of Italian PM's dalliance with a high-end prostitute at his Rome residence have surfaced, which could hurt his future
Silvio Berlusconi is facing fresh embarrassment after audiotapes surfaced of a supposed dalliance with a high-end prostitute at his Rome residence. "I'm going to take a shower too. If you finish before me, wait for me on the big bed," a man purported to be the Italian Prime Minister can be heard saying. "Which bed?
File Pic/Getty imagesPutin's?"queries his companion, Patrizia D'Addario. "Oh, how cute, the one with the curtains." The audiotapes -- posted online yesterday by Italian newspaper La Repubblica and weekly magazine L'Espresso -- offer a tantalising glimpse into how Berlusconi reportedly spent the night of November 4, 2008.
Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini immediately disputed the veracity of the tapes, dismissing them as being "without any merit, completely improbable and the product of the imagination". Government minister Gianfrano Rotondi said it was an attempt by leftist media to "intimidate" the government by "the violation of every ethic" in journalism.
One conversation on the tapes is between D'Addario and the businessman at the heart of that investigation, Giampaolo Tarantini. She phones him after her night with the PM and brags, "We didn't get a wink of sleep all night."u00a0 D'Addario then complains that there was no promised envelope with the 5,000 euros (Rs 3.25 lakh) she had been expecting, although, she says, "I was given a present, I don't know, a little turtle thing."
"And then he said he wanted to see me again with a female friend because (he wanted the) two of us."
Berlusconi has not denied that D'Addario came to Palazzo Grazioli, but has said he did not know the 42-year-old was an escort.
According to the transcripts, Berlusconi phoned D'Addario the day after their assignation on the Putin bed.
He marvels at how he has got through a busy day, despite the lack of sleep. She tells him she's lost her voice.
"Eh, how come?" the Prime Minister replies. "We didn't scream." "And I didn't yell, D'Addario says. "Who knows why my voice has gone. Do you know why? Because I took 10 showers in ice-cold water because I was hot."
