Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's private life was back in the spotlight yesterday when a leading news group posted audio tapes and transcripts of what it said were conversations with a female escort.
In a statement, Mr Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini dismissed the recordings as "totally unlikely and a product of the imagination", saying it was illegal to publish them.
The new twist in the saga that has riveted many Italians for months appeared to end a short break from media scrutiny of his private life while Mr Berlusconi basked in the success of this month's G8 summit.
La Repubblica daily and L'Espresso weekly websites posted tapes of conversations purportedly between Mr Berlusconi and Patrizia D'Addario, an escort who says she and others were paid to attend parties at Mr Berlusconi's residence in Rome. Mr Berlusconi has not denied that the woman went to his home but has said he did not know she was an escort.
One conversation posted on the websites was between Ms D'Addario and Giampaolo Tarantini, a southern Italian businessman who is under investigation by magistrates on suspicion of corruption and abetting prostitution.
Ms D'Addario says she made the tapes on her cellphone during the night she spent at the Prime Minister's Rome residence or while she was involved in telephone conversations, one with Mr Berlusconi.
Daniele Capezzone, spokesman for Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, called the posting of the conversations "pathetic". Government minister Gianfranco Rotondi said the leftist media wanted to "intimidate" the government by using "the violation of every ethic" of journalism.
Ms D'Addario, 42, has given the tapes to magistrates investigating the case against Tarantini. Dr Ghedini said on Monday there should be an investigation into how L'Espresso and La Repubblica obtained them. Mr Berlusconi, who is already dogged by a messy public divorce and reports of cavorting with underage girls, has in the past called the accusations by the newspapers "trash and falsehoods".
But L'Espresso and La Repubblica, both left-leaning and both owned by the same publishing house, said the tapes proved "what D'Addario has been saying about the Prime Minister is true".
The scandals have given the opposition a rare chance to land a blow on Mr Berlusconi, who dominates the political landscape and remains popular despite the economic crisis. He said a recent poll gave his government a 57 per cent approval rating.
The current uproar over Mr Berlusconi's private life came nearly two months after Italy was transfixed by his friendship with an 18-year-old aspiring model. He said he had no sexual relations with her.