Prosecutors home in on Italian PM's finances

MILAN - Italian magistrates yesterday sought to prise open the private financial accounts of Premier Silvio Berlusconi to investigate whether he paid for sex with an under-age prostitute.

A 300-page judicial report posted on the parliamentary website claimed that "a significant number of young women prostituted themselves at his residence for financial payments".

The magistrates hope to use the dossier, presented to the Lower House yesterday, to gain access to potentially incriminating documents from Berlusconi's accountant, Giuseppe Spinelli.

Berlusconi is suspected by prosecutors of abusing his office in attempting to cover up the act. He has denied both charges, which if proven, carry stiff jail sentences.

Prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati alleged that three close associates of the Premier "continuously carried out an activity of inducing and abetting prostitution" by selecting and accompanying to Berlusconi's various residences a "significant number of young women, who prostituted themselves with Silvio Berlusconi, receiving payment of money" from him.

The snowballing sex and corruption scandal has led the humiliated Berlusconi to consider resigning after being "profoundly shocked" by the latest wave of headlines, according to La Stampa newspaper, citing sources close to the Italian leader.

It reported that even some of the Prime Minister's closest supporters felt his time was running out.

In a television appearance on Monday, the billionaire media mogul denied that he had ever paid to have sex - and revealed that he had been enjoying "an affectionate and stable relationship" with an unnamed woman since his wife, Veronica Lario, walked out on him 20 months ago.

The Prime Minister's claim was met with ridicule yesterday. Under the headline "The woman without a face and the fictional life of Silvio Berlusconi", an article in La Repubblica said: "Perhaps she [the new partner] is a beautiful 60-something - and therefore much younger than the Prime Minister. Or maybe she's a demure, young orphan, fresh out of college and captivated by this man, like so many others."

The same centre-left newspaper claimed yesterday that the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, was also present at one of Berlusconi's parties attended by the Moroccan belly dancer Karima "Ruby" El Mahroug, then 17, the woman at the centre of the claims of under-age prostitution, together with nine other young women.

On TV Berlusconi said it was "absurd to think" that he had ever paid for relations with a woman and he regarded the notion as degrading to his dignity.

Opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani of the Democratic Party dismissed Berlusconi's claims as "embarrassing and distressing", adding that "he must think the public are imbeciles".

- INDEPENDENT, AP