An ex-call girl described on Italian television on Sunday how she had attended parties with several other women at the residences of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and had two private meetings with him.
Nadia Macri, 28, repeated allegations she had already made to the media in an interview on the private news channel Sky TG24, her first appearance on television in a damaging scandal about Mr Berlusconi’s private life.
Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer dismissed the claims and threatened legal action.
Ms Macri said she had been confronted in a street by a man who said he was the head of a team of bodyguards for Lele Mora, an agent for Italian starlettes and a friend of Mr Berlusconi.
The man said, “I know someone who can change your life,” referring to Mr Berlusconi, she said.
Ms Macri said she was driven to Lele Mora’s offices “where there were other young girls, all foreigners” and a selection was under way.
She was later taken to Mr Berlusconi’s residence close to Milan, at Arcore, where “everything was beautiful, we ate well”. Besides young girls, also present were Emilio Fede, a presenter on a private channel belonging to media tycoon Mr Berlusconi, and the prime minister’s secretary – “a tall, blonde young woman who worked for television and seemed to organise everything”.
Ms Macri, who describes herself as a former call girl, said she was called directly by Mr Berlusconi a month afterwards.
Some days later, she returned to the Arcore residence where she said she received €5,000 for a private meeting with the Prime Minister.
Ms Macri said she attended another party with Mr Berlusconi in his Villa Certosa residence in Sardinia where “a great number of businessmen, advocates and notaries” were also present. She also had a second meeting with Mr Berlusconi.
She has previously told judges that she had sex with the prime minister at these meetings, which were within the past two years, according to local media.
Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer Niccolo Ghedini rejected statements saying “they have already been dismissed by the facts and several witness statements”.
The lawyer said he “envisaged all opportune legal action”.
In a scandal called Rubygate, Lele Mora has been investigated for prostitution of minors for having helped to organise parties at Arcore with young girls who were paid for their services. One of them is a young Moroccan Karima El Mahroug, who was a minor at the time. Mr Berlusconi is also fighting off political challenges, with his government facing confidence votes in both the lower and upper houses of Parliament on December 14. A loss in either would force him to resign, according to the Constitution.