ROME — Prosecutors are investigating whether Premier Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with an underage girl from Morocco and abused his power in trying to cover up the encounters, officials said Friday.
Berlusconi dismissed the case as “absurd” and said the prosecutors were just jealous they weren’t invited to his home for dinner too. The teenager has said she dined at the premier’s Milan estate but didn’t have sex with him.
“At least my lawyers are happy,” Berlusconi quipped in an audio message to his supporters late Friday. “They’re sure that with me they’ll never be out of work.”
The investigation escalated a long history of accusations of sexual and financial impropriety aimed at the billionaire businessman, who has become Italy’s longest-serving postwar leader despite corruption trials, international gaffes and political infighting.
According to a statement by Milan prosecutors, the probe is looking into whether the 74-year-old premier had sex with a 17-year- old nightclub dancer nicknamed Ruby. The Associated Press
