Silvio Berlusconi Scandal

Silvio Berlusconi was aware Karima al-Mahroug, the girl he allegedly paid for sex, was underage, according to a statement she reportedly made to prosecutors.

On Wednesday, one day after Italy's prime minister was committed for trial, the centre-left daily La Repubblica published an extractfrom Mahroug's alleged evidence, in which the Moroccan runaway said that when she first met Berlusconi she told him she was a 24-year-old Egyptian. But on a subsequent visit, in March 2010, "I told him the truth: I was a minor and I had no papers."

Prostitution is legal in Italy, but sex with girls younger than 18 is not.

Mahroug said that at her first meeting with Berlusconi, and before any relationship developed between them, that the prime minister gave her about $68,000.

Berlusconi has been indicted for paying for sex with an under-age prostitute last spring, during parties at his villa. Berlusconi and Mahroug — nicknamed "Ruby the heart-stealer" — both deny the charge.

The fast-track trial is expected to begin on Apr. 6, according to news reports, and presiding will be three female judges — Giulia Turri, Orsola De Cristoforo and Carmen D' Elia — picked at random by a computer.

Of the three female judges, Turri is the best known: she oversaw a tax evasion probe into managers from Internet giant Google and controversially ordered the main players in a drug investigation into Milan discos placed under house arrest. But legal experts say that all three have been known as tough but fair jurists, according to Xinhua.

Berlusconi has been tried on at least 17 charges since his first time as prime minister in 1994, but none of the cases have resulted in lasting convictions. Several were overturned on appeal. This is the first time he is being tried for personal conduct.

In another development Wednesday, one of the women who attended Berlusconi's infamous parties at his villa went on camera to explain how she became a key figure in the scandal that is enveloping Italy.

In her first television interview, with CNN, Nicole Minetti — who is being investigated for allegedly procuring prostitutes for Berlusconi — paints a different picture of Berlusconi's parties and acts of financial generosity toward women, describing him as someone who likes to help young people.

Minetti, now a local politician with Berlusconi's Forza party and previously Berlusconi's personal dental hygienist — denied procuring prostitutes for Berlusconi.

Minetti said there were "sometimes pretty girls" at Berlusconi's parties, but that the dinners were not the wild scenes of debauchery depicted in Italian media reports.

"He sings. He tells stories, any type of stories, I mean even personal stories, of his experience of politics, humorous stories, that is a little bit of how the evenings were," she said. "I mean, nothing lurid in any way."

Thousands of Italians took to the streets in 200 cities across Italy on Sunday to protest Berlusconi's alleged behavior toward women. The largest gathering was in Rome, attended by 100,000 people organizers said.

Berlusconi spent Tuesday visiting properties that could host Tunisian refugees who are flooding into Italy via the tiny Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. He has asked the EU for $135 million in aid to help Italy cope with what he calls a humanitarian emergency.

Posted in: Silvio Berlusconi