Italian magistrates have opened a judicial enquiry into the relationship between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a teenage girl, press reports said yesterday.
The probe will consider whether Mr Berlusconi abused his position on a night in May by telling police in Milan to free the girl named Ruby, a minor at the time, who had been picked up for an alleged theft, the reports said, quoting the prosecution services.
The Italian leader attempted “to hide the fact that he was a client of an underaged prostitute over several weekends at Arcore”, his residence in the north of the country, the reports added.
He wanted to ensure impunity for himself and prevent the details of parties in his home being revealed, they said.
Ansa news agency meanwhile said Mr Berlusconi had been summoned to appear before a court, without giving a date.
Berlusconi lawyers Piero Longo and Niccolo Ghedini rejected the allegations, calling the “new enquiry so absurd and unfounded that it would not even deserve a comment”.
“The speculations have already been widely denied by the witnesses and those directly involved,” they said in a statement.
The allegations are “a very serious interference in the private life of the head of government, which has no precedent in the country’s legal history”, they added.
Daniele Capezzone, spokesman for Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, reacted by attacking the leak of information and “incredible accusations.”
The 72-year-old media mogul, a notorious womaniser, has said he has never paid for sex, while admitting that he is “no saint”. He also denies having had sexual relations with Ruby, whose real name is Karima El Mahroug.
The Moroccan girl, who turned 18 in November, claims she has been to parties in the Prime Minister’s villa near Milan but also denies having sex with the Prime Minister.
The scandal has been dubbed “Rubygate”.