Karima Keyek, known as 'Stealer of Hearts', claims Berlusconi offered her cash and jewellery at dinner
Karima Keyek, known as 'Stealer of Hearts', claims Berlusconi offered her cash and jewellery at dinnerThe latest sex scandal threatening Silvio Berlusconi has deepened after a 17-year-old Moroccan belly dancer linked to the Italian prime minister said he had given her $7,000 (Rs 3.10 lakh) and jewellery when she sat next to him at a Valentine's Day dinner held this year for 10 women at his mansion near Milan.
The girl, named in the Italian media as Karima Keyek but known more widely by her stage name Ruby Rubacuori, or Stealer of Hearts, denies sleeping with Berlusconi.
"It the first time in my life that a man has not tried to take me to bed. He behaved like a father, I swear," she told La Repubblica from Genoa, where she is hiding out in an apartment allegedly lent to her by a former porn star.
But she has painted a vivid portrait of private parties held by the 74-year-old prime minister, known by the Italian media as lavish affairs that often transformed into 'bunga-bunga' sessions involving after-dinner sex between male and female guests.
Keyek said her host had told her not to come to see him any more after discovering she was not, as she had claimed, 24.
"Berlusconi said he had had enough problems in the past with another underage girl," she said.
Keyek said, "He gave me an envelope with $7,000 in it and I told him I dreamed of gaining Italian citizenship and becoming a policewoman."
Last year Veronica Lario, the premier's second wife, accused him of frequenting minors and announced she was leaving him after he attended the 18th birthday party of aspiring model Noemi Letizia. He also managed to shrug off later claims by escort Patrizia D'Addario that he had slept with her.
The revelations have once again sparked speculation about his fitness to lead.u00a0 Confronted last week by the media furore over the latest scandal, Berlusconi has tried to laugh off criticisms of his lifestyle. "I am a playful person, full of life.
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I love life, I love women," he said. But he has denied the part of the scandal reportedly of most interest to prosecutors: claims that he pressured Milan police to release Keyek when she was arrested on suspicion of stealing from a friend in May.
For her part, Keyek has said she is now intent on writing an autobiography with a chapter devoted to her relationship with her former dinner host.
Unfit BerlusconiThe Italia dei Valori (Italian Of Merit), the Opposition party made a poster showing a montage of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in different cloths and titled Evolution of the Species? in relation to the latest scandal.
