Dinner parties turned into the unspeakable: Berlusconi
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, known worldwide for his libido boasts, described parties he hosted in Rome as high-class soirees that evolved into scandalous affairs.
"They were elegant, nice and happy dinners that transformed into something unspeakable," he told a conference of supporters in Rome Thursday, referring to dinner parties at his Palazzo Grazzioli residence in the Italian capital.
Italian prosecutors last month concluded a two-year investigation into a prostitution scandal associated with Berlusconi by charging eight people with allegedly providing the billionaire politician with dozens of escorts for parties he hosted.
According to investigators, around 30 prostitutes were provided for parties at his Palazzo Grazioli and other homes where they received cash and gifts from Berlusconi who is worth almost $8 billion, according to Forbes Magazine.
Berlusconi has been dogged by trials in Milan that include one for allegedly paying an underaged woman for sex. He says he has done nothing illegal and a judge earlier this week cleared him of allegations of tax evasion and corruption in one case involving his media empire.
Embarassing wiretap transcripts regularly appear in Italian newspapers with salacious details of Berlusconi's promiscuity.
The prime minister says he is the victim of political persecution left-wing investigators and used his Friday address in Rome to renew his claim that the country's magistrate are abusing the power in a "justice coup" in 1994 amid a mega-corruption scandal involving politicians and businessmen.
The Tangentopoli, or "Bribesville" scandal that broke in 1992 prompted Berlusconi to enter politics two years later after his close friend prime minister Bettino Craxi fled to self-imposed exile in Tunisia after coming under investigation for corruption.
