Phonecalls made by Karima El Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heart Stealer have been leaked, and she allegedly tells a friend in one that the former Italian prime minister had accepted demands made for €5 million by her and her lawyer.
She said in one conversation: “He is crazy about me. People immediately think the worst because they see a beautiful girl at Berlusconi’s house and think they would be having sex but it is not like that.”
The conversation, published by Italian newspaper La Repubblica, is one of several recorded by police for Milan prosecutors in October 2010 after news broke that the 17-year-old attended the ex-leader’s “bunga bunga” parties.
In another conversation, El Mahroug, who is now 18, tells her Sicilian hairdresser ex-boyfriend, Sergio Cosaro: “Silvio is calling me constantly.”
“He told me to act like I was crazy and talk bullshit and that he would be there for me with whatever I wanted. My lawyer and I have asked for 5 million euros in exchange for me acting crazy and he has accepted.”
The billionaire politician, who resigned in November, is on trial in Milan on charges of paying for sex with El Mahroug, who prosecutors say was working as a prostitute.
He is also accused of pressuring Milan police to release her from custody after she was arrested on suspicion of stealing cash and jewellery from a flatmate.
At a court hearing, he admitted that he invited the girls who participated in the parties – which he calls nothing more than “elegant dinners” – because their lives had been destroyed.
He added that some of the women at the parties dressed up in costumes such as police uniforms because they were “by their nature exhibitionists” as they worked in showbusiness.
