A defiant Silvio Berlusconi insisted yesterday that he had never paid a woman for sex, as pressure mounted on the Italian Prime Minister to explain his actions amid lurid allegations that he had entertained escorts and call-girls at his home.
The comments — the first since an inquiry into alleged prostitution was launched — came as an influential Catholic magazine attacked his behaviour as indefensible and accused him of causing a “moral emergency” in his nation.
In an interview with Chi magazine, which he owns, an unrepentant Mr Berlusconi said he had “nothing to apologise for” in his private life. “I have never paid a woman.”
Referring to Patrizia D’Addario, the escort girl who spent a night at Palazzo Grazioli, his Rome residence, he insisted that he was the victim of a set-up. “Someone sent her with a very precise aim ... if I suspected a person of anything of the kind I would keep them a thousand miles away.”
Ms D’Addario denied Mr Berlusconi’s account. She said: “If he has the slightest proof to support his allegation he should hand it to the authorities.”
Mr Berlusconi admitted that he knew Giampaolo Tarantini, who is being investigated for allegedly abetting prostitution. “He was introduced to me as a serious and respected entrepreneur. Now that he is at the centre of an investigation I think that he should be presumed innocent, like any other citizen involved in a judicial case.”
The Prime Minister added that his estrangement from his wife, Veronica Lario, who has asked for a divorce, was “a very painful wound”.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6565410.ece
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