30 women in 5 months for Berlo

Extracts published on Wednesday in the newspaper Corriere della Sera identified by name at least half a dozen women who stayed the night at Berlusconi’s Rome residence.
The businessman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, said his aim was to win favours from those in power. “I wanted to get to know PrimeMminister Berlusconi and to that end I incurred significant expense to enter into his confidence,” he was quoted as saying. “Knowing of his interest in the female sex, what I did was to take girls to see him, introducing them as friends of mine and concealing from him that sometimes I paid them.”

Tarantini said Berlusconi had introduced him to the head of Italy’s civil protection department, which places orders for equipment worth millions of euros each year. “But then nothing more happened,” he said.

The parties for Berlusconi took place between last September and January this year. Tarantini appears to have begun well-prepared. “When I accompanied the girls to Palazzo Grazioli I made them sit on the rear seats because the windows in the back of my vehicle were darkened, I having had them replaced in, if I’m not mistaken, September 2008,” he said. The women ranged from high-class prostitutes to a TV showgirl. Several of the women were foreigners — a key point because of opposition claims that Berlusconi’s sex life could have compromised national security.

The PM’s office did not immediately comment on the claims.

The Guardian