Berlusconi's 'harem' named

Silvio Berlusconi hired more than 30 women, including actresses and prostitutes, to attend his private parties, Italian investigators allege. They said they had intercepted more than 100,000 conversations and telephone calls following a two-year probe into the allegations.

There are reports the calls involve Berlusconi himself talking about nights spent with the escorts and commenting on their performances. The investigators said at least 30 women were invited to his parties, and many 'prostituted themselves' with the leader in return for cash and other gifts, the Daily Telegraph said.

They now want charges to be brought against eight people said to have supplied the Italian Prime Minisiter with women for parties he hosted at his official residences in Rome, Milan and Sardinia between 2008 and 2009. Some of the women were from South America and Eastern Europe.

PM's girls: Sara Tommasi, left, and Barbara Guerra, right, have been named by investigators as being among those who attended Berlusconi's private parties

Italian actress Manuela Arcuri was allegedly promised the chance to host the annual San Remo musical festival in exchange for sleeping with Mr Berlusconi, but turned down the offer. Others named in the list leaked to the Italian press - who have dubbed it 'a harem' - included Patrizia D'Addario, a self-confessed call girl, Ioanna Visan, a Romanian showgirl and underwear model Francesca Lana.

Aspiring showgirls Sara Tommasi, Barbara Guerra and Barbara Montereale were also on the list.

Berlusconi has always denied any knowledge that the women were escorts and that he paid for sex insisting he could 'never understand people who pay for sex as there is no thrill of the chase.'

His legal team are said to be frantically trying to have the intercepted calls ruled out as evidence in any potential trial.

In Italy, wiretaps and listening devices are used extensively as part of prosecution cases and investigations. Among the eight people who could face charges are businessman Giampaolo Tarantini, who is already under investigation for his part in an alleged blackmail plot against Berlusconi.
He is said to have paid him more than £660,000 in hush money so as not to reveal details of the prostitutes.

Besides Tarantini there is also Sabina Began, 36, a German actress who calls herself the 'Queen Bee' when it comes to Berlusconi and who earlier this year claimed in an interview that the under pressure politician had 'helped her find God.'

Investigators will now ask a judge to formally charge the eight people in connection to 28 offences ranging from procuring prostitutes to criminal association. The inquiry began in 2009 after Tarantini's name hit the headlines when it emerged he had arranged for the escorts to attend parties Berlusconi hosted at his residences in Rome and Sardinia and photographs of the women in one of his bathrooms later emerged.

Patrizia D'Addario, 42, said she was paid to spend the night with the media tycoon and later went on to write a book in which she praised Berlusconi, 74, for his sexual performance adding that he deserved a 'place in the Guinness Book of Records.'

Investigators say that Tarantini, Began and the others were in charge of recruiting the women for the parties and were paid for their efforts or had other favours in return such as contracts for business ventures.

Italian actresses Manuela Arcuri refused the offer to sleep with Berlusconi	Investigators say Berlusconi recruited more than 30 women for his banga-banga parties

In separate but linked cases prosecutors are looking into allegations that drugs were also supplied.

Details of the allegations and telephone calls were revealed in official prosecution documents deposited at the main court building in Bari and which a judge will now go through to decide if there is enough evidence for the charges to be be brought against the eight people named.

In a statement the Bari prosecutor's office confirmed the investigation had officially closed and said: 'This case began in the summer of 2009 and since then more than 100,000 telephone calls and other intercepted conversations with listening devices have been transcribed and those that have been deemed relevant form part of the file asking for charges to be brought against eight people.'

The files revealed how Miss Began had allegedly recruited three women for a party Berlusconi hosted at his Rome residence Palazzo Grazioli. Italian actresses Manuela Arcuri was allegedly promised the chance to host the annual San Remo musical festival in exchange for sleeping with Mr Berlusconi, but refused the offer

Earlier this summer Miss Began, who has a tattoo dedicated to Berlusconi on her ankle, told an Italian radio show about her relationship with the politician and said: 'He loves God, he speaks to God. He is a believer and thanks to him I have become religious as well.

'He is a very spiritual man. He has helped me to find faith and his home is decorated with crucifixes. He is very spiritual and he has put me on a spiritual path.' Berlusconi himself is not suspected or accused of any wrong doing in Bari case which is different to the infamous 'bunga bunga' investigation which has led to him being accused of having sex with an underage prostitute.

The pharse 'bunga bunga' is said to refer to crude after-dinner sex games played at Berlusconi's home near Milan by female guests who were invited there.

© Daily Mail, London

Putin defends Italian PM

MOSCOW, Sept 17, 2011 (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday made light of the sex scandals surrounding Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, saying critics were simply jealous of his sexual prowess.

"However much they nag Signor Berlusconi for his special attitude to the beautiful sex, and by the way they nag him mainly because of jealousy, he has shown himself as a responsible statesman," Putin said at an international investment forum in Sochi, quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency.

He was speaking in praise of Berlusconi's financial belt-tightening to battle Italy's economic woes.
Putin's comments go down well at home, but often cause shock abroad.

In 2006, he was overheard praising the then Israeli President Moshe Katsav who was at the time charged with multiple rapes, later to be convicted on two counts.

"He turned out to be a very mighty man! He raped 10 women. I would never have expected this from him. He surprised us all -- we all envy him!" Putin was quoted as saying in comments later described as a joke by the Kremlin.