246 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
246 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
|
||
worldnews
|
||
europe
|
||
italy
|
||
8260230
|
||
-----
|
||
# Silvio Berlusconi in prostitution investigation
|
||
|
||
## Silvio Berlusconi is being investigated for allegedly having sex with an
|
||
under-age prostitute and then trying to cover up the encounters by abusing his
|
||
powers as prime minister.
|
||
|
||
400
|
||
|
||
227
|
||
|
||
TelegraphPlayer-8264142
|
||
|
||
[Link to this video][1]
|
||
|
||
[![Nick Squires][2]][3]
|
||
|
||
By [Nick Squires][4], Rome 5:06PM GMT 14 Jan 2011
|
||
|
||
**[Italian][5]** prosecutors are probing Mr Berlusconi's relationship with a
|
||
teenage nightclub dancer whose stage name is Ruby the Heart Stealer and who
|
||
attended at least one dinner at his mansion outside Milan where she said she
|
||
witnessed orgies nicknamed "bunga-bunga" parties.
|
||
|
||
Mr Berlusconi was accused of a gross abuse of office when it emerged that in
|
||
May last year he telephoned a police station in Milan, where the runaway
|
||
teenager, then aged 17, was being questioned on theft allegations, and ordered
|
||
officers to release her.
|
||
|
||
He reportedly told police that the young woman, whose real name is Karima El
|
||
Mahroug, was the granddaughter of Egypt's president, to which one magistrate
|
||
responded: "If she's [Hosni] Mubarak's granddaughter then I'm Queen Nefertiti
|
||
of the Nile."
|
||
|
||
Prosecutors in Milan want to ascertain whether Mr Berlusconi's motivation in
|
||
having the Moroccan-born belly dancer released was to cover up the fact that
|
||
he had allegedly paid her for sex during encounters at his luxury villa at
|
||
Arcore between February and May last year.
|
||
|
||
They issued Mr Berlusconi and his lawyers with a summons to appear in court on
|
||
charges of engaging in prostitution with a minor and abuse of office.
|
||
|
||
They also ordered police in Milan to search the offices of several people
|
||
implicated in the case, including a veteran news presenter on one of Mr
|
||
Berlusconi's television channels and a prominent Showbusiness agent.
|
||
|
||
Nicole Minetti, 25, an Anglo-Italian former model and showgirl who was
|
||
unexpectedly propelled into politics by Mr Berlusconi's party last year, is
|
||
also being investigated for allegedly procuring prostitutes for the prime
|
||
minister.
|
||
|
||
The prime minister allegedly sent her to collect Miss El Mahroug when police
|
||
released her from custody on the night of May 27-28.
|
||
|
||
As the so-called "Rubygate" scandal widened, it emerged that police in Genoa
|
||
seized digital photos and video of parties at Mr Berlusconi's summer residence
|
||
in Sardinia when they raided a youth shelter in which Miss El Mahroug was
|
||
living in October.
|
||
|
||
Mr Berlusconi's lawyers said the accusations were "absurd and groundless" and
|
||
a politically motivated attempt to discredit the government.
|
||
|
||
They said the investigation represented a "very serious interference in the
|
||
prime minister's private life that has no precedent in the country's judicial
|
||
history."
|
||
|
||
Daniele Capezzone, the spokesman for Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party,
|
||
said: "Faced with this tired old script made up of news leaks and improbable
|
||
accusations, Italians can choose once again whether to get indignant or to
|
||
yawn." The age of consent in Italy is 14 but paying for sex with a prostitute
|
||
under age 18 is a crime.
|
||
|
||
Miss El Mahroug, who turned 18 in November, has denied that she had sex with
|
||
the 74-year-old prime minister although she says he gave her jewellery and
|
||
£6,000 in cash at the end of the party.
|
||
|
||
The announcement of the investigation came a day after Italy's Constitutional
|
||
Court struck down parts of an immunity law which had frozen three trials in
|
||
which Mr Berlusconi is accused of corruption and tax fraud. The court's ruling
|
||
cleared the way for the cases to resume.
|
||
|
||
[X][6] Share & bookmark
|
||
|
||
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
||
|
||
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
||
|
||
[What are these?][7]
|
||
|
||
* Share: [Share][6] [ ][8] [ ][9]
|
||
|
||
[Tweet][10]
|
||
|
||
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8260230/Silvio-
|
||
Berlusconi-in-prostitution-investigation.html
|
||
|
||
Telegraph
|
||
|
||
## [Italy][5]
|
||
|
||
* ### [News »][11]
|
||
|
||
* ### [World News »][12]
|
||
|
||
* ### [Europe »][13]
|
||
|
||
* ### [Nick Squires »][3]
|
||
|
||
In news
|
||
|
||
[![Sicily's Mount Etna bursts into life once again, sending ash and lava into
|
||
the air and molten rock flowing down it's slopes. ][14] ][15]
|
||
|
||
### [Mount Etna spews lava][15]
|
||
|
||
[![Pope John Paul II in pictures][16] ][17]
|
||
|
||
### [Pope John Paul II][17]
|
||
|
||
[![Silvio Berlusconi and the 'bunga bunga' parties in pictures][18] ][19]
|
||
|
||
### [Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' parties][19]
|
||
|
||
[![Silvio Berlusconi has ridiculed claims by Italian prosecutors that he paid
|
||
33 women for sex in a matter of months][20] ][21]
|
||
|
||
### [Silvio Berlusconi's women][21]
|
||
|
||
[![Amanda Knox truth may never be known][22] ][23]
|
||
|
||
### [Trailer for Amanda Knox film released][23]
|
||
|
||
[X][6] Share & bookmark
|
||
|
||
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
||
|
||
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
||
|
||
[What are these?][7]
|
||
|
||
Share:
|
||
|
||
* [ ][6]
|
||
|
||
* [ ][8]
|
||
|
||
* [ ][9]
|
||
|
||
* [Tweet][10]
|
||
|
||
* Advertisement
|
||
|
||
![][24]
|
||
|
||
Advertisement
|
||
|
||
[Follow The Telegraph on Social Media »][25]
|
||
|
||
Like Telegraph.co.uk on Facebook
|
||
|
||
Advertisement
|
||
|
||
sponsored features
|
||
|
||
Loading
|
||
|
||
News Most Viewed
|
||
|
||
* TODAY
|
||
|
||
* PAST WEEK
|
||
|
||
* PAST MONTH
|
||
|
||
1. [3.5 minutes of terror: Air France crash dropped at 10,000 feet a
|
||
minute][26]
|
||
|
||
2. [Royal wedding: a peek into royal couple's honeymoon paradise][27]
|
||
|
||
3. [Councils spend 100m on taxpayer-funded credit cards][28]
|
||
|
||
4. [Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge wreck reveals secrets of the real
|
||
Pirate of the Caribbean][29]
|
||
|
||
5. [President Obamaâ™s top ten insults against Britain â 2011
|
||
edition][30]
|
||
|
||
1. [O'Bama? Oh puh-lease!][31]
|
||
|
||
2. [Rapture: the end was not nigh, after all][32]
|
||
|
||
3. [Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda encourages his grandchildren to take up arms
|
||
against President Barack Obama][33]
|
||
|
||
4. [Apocalypse not right now: 'Rapture' end of world fails to
|
||
materialise][34]
|
||
|
||
5. [Michelle Obama fights to control summer dress in windy London][35]
|
||
|
||
1. [Joe Biden opens his mouth about US Navy SEALs][36]
|
||
|
||
2. [Royal wedding live][37]
|
||
|
||
3. [Italians evacuate Rome over 'big one' fears][38]
|
||
|
||
4. [Osama bin Laden dead: Blackout during raid on bin Laden compound][39]
|
||
|
||
5. [Kate Middleton's family take action over nude pictures 'betrayal'][40]
|
||
|
||
[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][41]
|
||
|
||
### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][42]
|
||
|
||
[![Gil Scott-Heron][43]][42]
|
||
|
||
Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
|
||
on the black American experience.
|
||
|
||
### [Beekeeping diary: the new colonies arrive][44]
|
||
|
||
### [Spectacular light show dazzles Sydney][45]
|
||
|
||
### [WS Gilbert: a knight for our times][46]
|
||
|
||
### [The Telegraph's Matt is Hay Festival star][47]
|
||
|
||
Advertisement
|
||
|
||
Classified Advertising
|
||
|
||
* [World Travel][48]
|
||
|
||
* [Property][49]
|
||
|
||
* [Shopping][50]
|
||
|
||
Loading
|
||
|
||
var puffs_8120657 = new Array();
|
||
|