Grandpa Silvio ‘is impotent’

The woman once rumoured to be the Italian leader's mistress has turned against him, saying he has no real power

WHEN Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, broadcast a statement on pension reform in 2003 the announcer who introduced him on television caught his eye. He sent Virginia Sanjust di Teulada a huge bunch of roses and gardenias, invited her to lunch at his office and then presented her with a diamond bracelet. Over the months that followed, they met often and he showered her with diamonds and cash. Speaking for the first time last week, Sanjust, 32, described the devastating consequences of her “platonic love” for Berlusconi, 72, and the scandal it created. She said he had been consumed by the power his £4 billion fortune bestowed and should give up the relationships with young women which have ensured that his private life is high on the political agenda as Italians vote in European and local elections this weekend. In an interview on one of his own television stations, Berlusconi rejected comparisons with the scandal that engulfed former President Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6445910.ece