New audio tapes put Silvio Berlusconi sex allegations back in spotlight

Italian websites claim clips are of prime minister and escort discussing spending a night together and payment.

The furore over Silvio Berlusconi's private life was revived today when an Italian newspaper website produced what it said was a recording of the Italian prime minister as he prepared to get into bed with an escort. La Repubblica also posted a second recording it claimed was the escort the next day, protesting that she had not received the €5,000 (£4,300) she was expecting. A spokesman for Berlusconi's governing Freedom People movement described the diffusion of the tapes as "pathetic". But he did not challenge their authenticity. The recordings were claimed to have been made by the escort, Patrizia D'Addario, during and after two visits to Palazzo Grazioli, Berlusconi's residence in the centre of Rome. The content of the conversations has been reported in broad terms last month, but this is the first time that the alleged recordings themselves have been made available, along with full transcripts. One of them, claimed to have been made by D'Addario in the prime minister's bedroom, also backed up reports that Berlusconi's guests were entertained on a giant bed, which according to the transcripts, is in some way associated with the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin. The recording is of poor quality, however. After an exchange in which the prime minister seems to be offering D'Addario a present, the conversation continues as follows:

• SB: I'm taking a shower too. And then, then you wait for me on the big bed if you finish before me.
• PD: Which big bed? Putin's.
• SB: Putin's.
• PD: Oh, how lovely! The one with the curtains.

In a recording allegedly made the following morning, D'Addario rings the man who introduced her to Berlusconi. She tells him: "We didn't get a wink of sleep". But adds, "no envelope, though". She said that she had received: "I don't know, a little tortoise", but not "the envelope – 5000 euros", mentioned by a friend who had also visited Palazzo Grazioli.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/20/silvio-berlusconi-recordings