'I'll cover you in gold': Leaked wiretaps reveal what Berlusconi told bunga bunga Moroccan belly dancer to buy her silence
- Taps reveal former Italian PM paid Ruby the Heartbreaker €47,000 per week
- She told friend she wanted €5million to ensure she kept quiet
The Moroccan belly dancer at the centre of Silvio Berlusconi's sex trial told friends he was ready to pay millions for her silence, according to wiretaps published today.
Karima El Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heartbreaker, said the former Italian Prime Minister was 'crazy for me' and promised to 'cover her in gold' if she kept their 'friendship' quiet.
She also revealed, in conversations recorded by investigators in October 2010, he was paying her €47,000 each week and she had demanded €5million to ensure her silence.
Scroll down to listen to the recordings
Wiretaps: Conversations between Karima El Mahroug (left) and her friends reveal Silvio Berlusconi (right) was paying her €47,000 per week
Claims: Karima El Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heartbreaker, said the former Italian Prime Minister was 'crazy for me' and promised to 'cover her in gold' if she kept their 'friendship' quiet
The wiretaps contain no substantial new revelations about the lurid 'bunga bunga' scandal which overshadowed Berlusconi's final months in office.
But they reinforce allegations that he made frantic efforts to quell news about his relationship with Ruby.
The Rubygate affair is the most spectacular of the many sexual scandals surrounding Berlusconi and is particularly dangerous for him.
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This is because it centres on the allegation he had paid El Mahroug for sex while she was still a minor - a criminal offence.
He is also accused of using his office to have her released from police custody after she was accused of theft in an unrelated case.
Both he and Mahroug deny they had sex and Berlusconi denies ever paying for sex with anybody.
Belle of the ball: Ruby made an appearance at Vienna Opera Ball in 2011
More famous faces: Veteran actor Larry Hagman, aka Dallas' JR Ewing, was also among invited guests at last year's high-society ball
In other tapes, Ruby tells friends that Berlusconi told her to 'act crazy' and in one, says she and her lawyer had asked for €5million to ensure her silence.
Audio of the conversations were made available on the website of the daily La Repubblica newspaper.
Since the opening of his trial in Milan a year ago, a number of young women have described striptease 'bunga bunga' parties at Berlusconi's luxury villa outside Milan.
He has long insisted they were no more than elegant, convivial dinner parties.
But speaking last week during his first appearance at the trial, Berlusconi said the young women took part in 'burlesque games'.
He said he made payments to help a number of young women whose reputations had been ruined by the sex scandal.
In the taped conversations published today, El Mahroug and her friends appear amused at the agitation her antics were causing at the Italian prime minister's office.
Money maker: Audio of the conversations were made available for the first time today
'Mamma mia! What have you gone and done now?' one asks with a laugh.
'I told you I knew Silvio...What's coming out is me being Silvio's lover,' Ruby is heard telling the friend, identified as Antonella.
'He called me yesterday and said I'll give you all the money you want, I'll pay you, I'll cover you in gold but the important thing is that you hide everything and don't tell anyone anything,' she said.
Asked what she means by knowing Berlusconi, she replies: 'That I go to his house, that we've been friends for a year. It's just that people think the worst straight away.
'They see a beautiful girl who goes to Silvio's house, that he throws money at her - because he gave me €47,000 every week.
Payments: Ruby said she was paid €47,000 per week and demanded €5million for her silence
'They say 'Why does he do that for her? because he'd certainly have got something out of it, he'd have had sex'. It's not like that.'
Asked by a friend whether she was afraid following the explosion of media interest in the story, she said: 'No I'm not afraid of anything. I'll have a lot of money, I'll be famous. What should I be afraid of?'
Berlusconi, undermined by sex and corruption scandals, was forced from office last November and replaced by technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti after Italy risked being plunged into a Greek-style debt crisis.
He says left-wing magistrates have waged a campaign for decades to drive him from power and subvert democracy.
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