Berlusconi facing extortion and underage prostitution probe over consorting with underage Moroccan belly dancer 'Ruby Heartbreak'
- 'He welcomed me with open arms', says Ruby who claims Italian PM gave her a car, a necklace and £6,000 but insists 'there was no sex'
- His lawyers say investigation is 'absurd and groundless'
Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was under fire again today as it emerged he is being investigated for extortion and underage prostitution.
The probe on Mr Berlusconi, 74, centres on his relationship with a belly dancer called Karima el Mahroug, then 17, who was a guest at a party he hosted at his home last year.
The extortion accusation centres on the pressure he put on Milan police to release the exotic dancer - nicknamed Ruby Rubacuori (Ruby The Heartstealer) - after she'd been arrested on suspicion of theft.
Ruby Heartbreaker: Belly dancer Karima el Mahrougm, then 17, was arrested last year but reportedly freed after Berlusconi's intervention
Berlusconi's current term in office has been dogged by continual allegations involving women - but somehow he has managed to cling on to office even surviving a double no confidence vote in Parliament which greeted by riots in the street.
His lawyers confirmed he is under investigation in a prostitution case which they call 'absurd and groundless'.
Nicolo Ghedini and Piero Longo said the probe represented a 'very serious interference in the prime minister's private life'.
They said the allegations 'have already been refuted by all witnesses and people directly involved'.
The prostitution charge centres on the allegation that he had sex with the belly dancer sometime between February and May last year and is punishable by a jail term of between six months and three years.
Two months ago it emerged that the media tycoon turned politician had called police and asked them to release Moroccan-born Miss El Mahroug after she had been arrested on suspicion of theft.
He is said to have wrongly told officers that the girl, who at the time was 17, was the grand daughter of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and to avoid diplomatic embarrassment she should be released.
Investigated: Silvio Berlusconi may be prosecuted over his involvement with a teenage nightclub dancer
Mr Berlusconi sent one of his MPs -half British Nicole Minetti, to pick her up from Milan central police station following her arrest last May and she was freed into her care.
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Today former dental hygienist Miss Minetti's office was searched as part of the investigation as well as the offices of showbiz agent Lele Mora, a close friend of Mr Berlusconi.
Mr Mora is already being probed for alleged involvement in procuring escort girls but denies the charge.
In an interview Miss El Mahroug said that at the party she had been given a diamond necklace, €7,000 and an Audi by Mr Berlusconi who said he 'felt sorry' for her as she told him her life story at the party at his home in Arcore near Milan.
Miss El Mahroug said:'I left before midnight. I told him all my problems. He got very upset and he gave me €7,000 and a Damiani necklace.
'After that evening I never heard from him again.
In an interview Ruby said she had been given a diamond necklace, 7,000 euros and an Audi by Mr Berlusconi who said he 'felt sorry' for her as she told him her life story
'When I said I was 17, he said that in the past he’d had problems with minors. He said he didn’t want it to happen again. Then we said goodbye, he was polite but firm.
'I was upset as he was the first man in my life who had not wanted to take me to bed.
Moroccan runaway: Miss El Mahroug, linked with Silvio Berlusconi, is in Italy illegally
'He was like a father, I swear. Silvio welcomed me with open arms, he invited me into his house. He was so sweet.'
Moroccan Miss El Mahroug , who is in Italy illegally, added: ‘He protected me and he gave me some money. He said he would help with my residency permit. He didn’t want anything in return, I swear.
'There was no sex. He sent me a couple of messages and he said that I had left an impression on him. He said that he liked me. I replied that I liked him as well and it wasn’t just because of the money.'
Mr Berlusconi's long-suffering wife Veronica Lario, 53, is divorcing him after it emerged two years ago he had attended the 18th birthday part of underwear model Naomi Letizia.
Ms Lario said she could no longer be with a 'man who is ill and who associates himself with minors' - she is trying to claim £40million a year from the billionaire.
News of the investigation came just hours after Italy's Constitutional Court had ruled parts of an immunity law brought in by Mr Berlusconi to prevent him from going on trial were unlawful.
Today no-one from Mr Berlusconi's office was immediately available to comment and his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini could also not be reached while party colleagues said it was the 'usual story of left leaning magistrates out to get him'.
This morning during a telephone interview on one of his TV stations before news of the probe broke Mr Berlusconi said: 'Everyone knows that there is a political persecution of me underway by left wing magistrates supported by left wing politicians.
'I don't believe you will find magistrates of such a view, who are willing to condemn me for facts which don't exist, anywhere else.'
Mr Berlusconi is currently involved in several corruption trials which have been put on hold as a result of the immunity law he brought in but which will now resume later this year, although they are expected to be timed out.
Berlusconi has been a magnet for scandals involving women. Here he is in 2004 with two unidentified females
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