The sex scandal is worsening for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: now it’s involving allegations with two minors:
Silvio Berlusconi had encounters with a second under-age showgirl, prosecutors believe, as the prime minister was hit by yet more salacious details about so-called “bunga bunga” sex parties at his homes.
The prime minister, 74, is already accused of paying for sex with a teenage nightclub dancer known as Ruby the Heartbreaker, and of abuse of office in pressuring police to release her on theft charges – crimes which carry prison sentences of up to three and 12 years respectively.
Prosecutors now believe that Iris Berardi, 19, a Brazilian showgirl, was under age when she went to Mr Berlusconi’s summer villa in Sardinia in Nov 2009 and his palazzo near Milan a month later.
Miss Berardi, a former beauty pageant contestant, would have been 17 at the time of the alleged encounters.
As the scandal deepened and the opposition said that Mr Berlusconi’s position was now “untenable”, signs emerged that one of the women at the heart of the investigation is turning against her former mentor.
Nicole Minetti, 25, an Anglo-Italian showgirl whom he helped to propel into a politics as a regional councillor in Lombardy, was recorded two weeks ago as calling the prime minister “a piece of —-” and “an old man” who had ruined her life and “is trying to save his own flabby —-.”
In another intercepted phone call, Miss Minetti, who is under investigation for on suspicion of procuring prostitutes for the prime minister, a charge she denies, told Barbara Faggioli, 24, an ex Playboy model, that Italian politics was “a mess” but warned that “if he (Berlusconi) goes down, we all go down.”
Mr Berlusconi says the allegations against him are politically motivated.
Using the services of prostitutes is not a crime in Italy, but paying a prostitute aged under 18 is an offence.
Ms Berardi’s presence at Mr Berlusconi’s villas in Sardinia and Milan has been proven by mobile phone records, Italian media report.
According to Ansa, Ms Berardi attended a party at Porto Rotondo, in Sardinia, on 21 November 2009 – just a few days before her 18th birthday. She also attended a party at his villa at Arcore, near Milan, in December the same year.
Ten days ago, prosecutors submitted a 389-page document, in which they said they had proof of payments made by the billionaire leader to prostitutes. The latest document runs to 227 pages.
The embattled 74-year-old has refused to attend questioning on the matter and has vowed to punish the magistrates who, he insists, are pursuing a political vendetta against him.
Much of the first dossier focuses on Karima El Mahroug, an 18-year-old Moroccan belly-dancer who attended Mr Berlusconi’s parties when she was 17 and, prosecutors say, was paid to have sex with him.
She and Mr Berlusconi have denied having sexual relations and Ms Mahroug has described a sum of 7,000 euros (£6,000) from the prime minister as a “gift”.
Let me guess: his favorite director is Roman Polanski.
The Vatican has been worried about this scandal’s impact on Italy:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.