Italian police have searched the homes of several women who attended ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's famed "bunga bunga" parties as part of an investigation into alleged witness tampering during the billionaire's sex-for-hire trial.

An appeal court acquitted Berlusconi last July of paying a 17-year-old girl, Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby, for sex on the grounds that he was apparently unaware of her age when she attended the sex parties.

Over the course of that trial, a new investigation began concerning allegations of witness tampering with some of the other "bunga bunga" participants.

Berlusconi, his lawyers, el-Mahroug and several women are under investigation but have not been charged.

Police searched the homes of several of the women and the home of el-Mahroug's lawyer, according to Milan prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati.

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