ITALIAN PM FLEW PROSTITUTES TO HIS PRIVATE VILLA ON GOVERNMENT JET?
Berlusconi, who turns 75 later this month, has boasted of his weakness for young, beautiful women, an inclination cited by his second wife, who is divorcing him.
Rome, Italy – Italian newspapers yesterday were filled with transcripts of intercepted phone conversations of a jailed southern businessman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, who is being investigated for allegedly arranging and paying for women to prostitute themselves at parties at Berlusconi's private residences in Rome, the Sardinia seacoast, and near Milan. Intercepted conversations that are part of investigations may be published once they are officially deposited in the court – in this case, in Bari, southeast Italy.
Concern was also growing in Italy over whether Silvio Berlusconi, who allegedly boasted in an intercepted phone conversation that he "did only eight" women in one night, can concentrate on rescuing Italy from its severe economic woes. - Berlusconi, who turns 75 later this month, has denied ever paying for sex. But he has boasted of his weakness for young, beautiful women, an inclination cited by his second wife, who is divorcing him.
Prostitution is not a crime in Italy, but exploiting prostitutes, as Tarantini is alleged to have done to try to curry favours with Berlusconi to win state contracts, is. In a separate probe, Tarantini is jailed for allegedly extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Berlusconi. The Italian prime minister says he gave Tarantini and Tarantini's wife, who was also arrested, money because he is a generous man who was trying to help a "family in need."
The Milan daily Corriere della Sera quoted the Italian prime minister as telling Tarantini in one telephone call that he had to go that evening to Milan because the plane at his disposition was only available then. Tarantini then purportedly asks Berlusconi if he and some of the women could go with him from Rome to Milan, and Berlusconi replied "you can." ITALIAN PM GIVES GOLD RINGS FOR FEMALE MPs FOR X'MAS
ROME, Itali - For some, five gold rings are enough for Christmas. But for Silvio Berlusconi, 37 are required — one for each of his female MPs.The 74-year-old Italian prime minister ordered the specially made £1,200 rings from a designer jeweller and they were given to female politicians as part of his annual Christmas gift.
In all, 24 women MPs from the lower house and 13 senators from the upper house were given the Italian tricolour rings, which were made of three bands of white, yellow and pink gold studded with tiny diamonds. The rings were made by the jeweller Recarlo, which is based at Valenza near Alessandria in northern Italy, an area known for its upmarket gem dealerships.- On its website, Recarlo says of itself: "Pure passion — Recarlo has always chosen the best quality diamonds.'' Carlo Re, the company's chairman, who has run the family business for 40 years, was unavailable for comment but a member of staff said: "This was a special gift chosen by the prime minister of Italy. We are not making any comment on it as it was a private purchase."
Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was given one of the rings. "It's a beautiful gift and the other female MPs and myself are very grateful," she said.
ITALIAN PM TRIES TO CENSOR FILM ABOUT HIS LOVE LIFE
Silvio Berlusconi is accustomed to allegations about his sex life being excitedly received abroad. France’s Nouvel Observateur recently published a story titled “Sex, Power and Lies” and the Spanish newspaper El Pais showed photographs of naked guests at the Italian prime minister’s retreat in Sardinia.
Source: The Independent
- Back home, though, the slew of claims over the priapic 72-year-old’s private life usually receive a muted reception, perhaps as a result of his influence over the media. So when the state television channel refused to trail a film that blames Berlusconi for creating a frivolous media culture filled with “half-naked women” and chauvinistic images (he owns three commercial TV channels), the movie’s director interpreted it as straight censorship.
- But the ban by the RAI network on the clip for Videocracy — showing today at the Venice Film Festival — has backfired and led to a surprising uptake in interest in the documentary.
- Videocracy is among the most contentious films to be shown at the two-week event. RAI wrote to the director, Erik Gandini, stating that the film was “offensive” to Berlusconi’s reputation. The advert showed scantily-attired women and statistics claiming Italy lacked press freedom. Berlusconi’s company, Mediaset, also declined to screen the trailer.
- Since then, requests from cinemas in Italy to obtain a print of the film have shot up from 35 to 70 venues, leading to many hundreds more screenings. “The ban indicated the level of tension in Italy regarding everything that goes on TV,” Gandini said. “[Berlusconi] runs three commercial channels in the country. In Italy, what does not exist on TV does not exist. I was scared by the ban, and by RAI’s Orwellian-style letter, but the day after, there was a huge explosion of interest on the internet. The print numbers have doubled.”
- Gandini also made the documentary Gitmo: The New Rules of War, about the American military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
I'VE NEVER PAID A WOMAN-SILVIO BERLUSCONI
The multi-millionaire Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi has refuted allegations that he paid prostitutes to attend parties he hosted at his various homes.The 72-year old denied he had ever paid for sex. ''I've never paid a woman. I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest,'' Berlusconi said.
- According to Italian press agency ANSA, Berlusconi accused Patrizia D'Addario, the woman who alleges she was paid to spend the night with the premier in November of being involved in a plan to make up false accusations against him.
- D'Addario last week told an Italian newspaper that a local businessman now being probed by magistrates paid her €1,000 ($1,408) to attend a dinner at Berlusconi's Rome residence along with other young women, what she described as a "harem" and she was back a few weeks later to spend the night with the premier, Reuters.com reported.
- But Berlusconi told Chi: ''Behind the (investigators') probe in (the southern city of) Bari there's someone who gave Ms D'Addario very detailed and very well paid orders.'" Do you think the allegations against Berlusconi affect his ability to govern?".
- Despite the swirl of scandal Berlusconi remains popular, consistency scoring approval ratings of more than 60 percent.
Source: CNN, ANSA, CHI
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