Italian premier 'could have women in large numbers for free', says representative.
Silvio Berlusconi's lawyer has denied fresh allegations in the Italian media that women received money to attend parties at the prime minister's residences in Rome and Sardinia, saying Berlusconi did not need to pay for women.
"He does not need people to bring him women," Niccolò Ghedini told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. "It's seems a bit over the top to think that Berlusconi needs to pay €2,000 [£1,700] for a girl to go with him. I think he could have them in large numbers for free."
Public prosecutors in the southern city of Bari said they were investigating whether payments allegedly made to at least four women by a local entrepreneur, Giampaolo Tarantini, to attend parties "in exclusive locations in Rome and Sardinia" constituted an "induction into prostitution".
The case arose from wiretapped conversations from a separate business corruption probe in which Tarantini allegedly negotiated payments and travel arrangements with the women. Corriere della Sera published an interview on Wednesday with one of the women, 42-year-old former television showgirl Patrizia D'Addario, who claimed she had been asked to attend a party at Berlusconi's Rome residence, Palazzo Grazioli, in October last year.
"I said they would have to pay me and we agreed on €2,000," she said.
Denying the allegations in a terse statement, Berlusconi said: "Once again the newspapers are filled with rubbish and falsehoods. I will certainly not allow this aggression to affect me and I will continue to work as always for the good of the country."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/18/berlusconi-pay-women
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