Italiaanse krant publiceert bandopname Silvio Berlusconi (en)
An Italian magazine has published a tape recording on its website, allegedly of a conversation between the country's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and an escort who stayed in his home.
Former model Patrizia D'Addario told L'Espresso magazine she made the recordings during a visit to Mr Berlusconi's Rome residence "so that nobody could deny I had been there".
At one point in the recording, the two voices can be heard discussing which bed to sleep in.
"I'm going to have a shower too... So wait for me in the big bed if you finish first," says the voice alleged to be that of Mr Berlusconi.
The female voice then asks: "Which big bed... Putin's?", an apparent reference to a four-poster bed that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had recently used during an official visit.
The sister publication of L'Espresso, Italian daily La Repubblica, says this and other recordings were made last October and November.
Ms D'Addario's attorney refused to comment on the authenticity of the recordings on Monday (20 July) while a lawyer for Mr Berlusconi told the Italian news agency ANSA that the prime minister was challenging their "truthfulness and legality".
"We can only regard the material as worthless, completely false and the result of invention," said lawyer Nicolo Ghedini.
Steady drip
The recordings are the latest in a steady drip of sleaze allegations that have dogged Mr Berlusconi since his wife filed for a divorce in May, saying she could "not remain with a man who consorts with minors" after he attended the birthday party of 18-year old Noemi Letizia.
In June the Spanish newspaper El Pais published photographs of guests, including several scantily clad women, enjoying parties at Mr Berlusconi's villa on the island of Sardinia.
Mr Berlusconi may have hoped that the positive press resulting from his successful chairing of a recent G8 meeting in Italy might have halted the sleaze allegations.
But Monday's release of the tape recordings looks set to reignite the controversy, with left-leaning La Repubblica also publishing an excerpt of a conversation between Ms D'Addario and Gianpaulo Tarantini, the businessman accused of hiring D'Addario and other escorts.
Mr Tarantini is currently being investigated by prosecutors in southern Italy over allegations he bribed health officials to buy prosthetics and other medical supplies from a company he and his brother own.
The businessman has denied he hired women to attend private parties hosted by Mr Berlusconi, saying he merely brought them along to make a "beautiful impression."
Despite the ongoing litany of allegations however, Mr Berlusconi remains largely popular in Italy, where polls consistently show his approval rating to be over 50 percent.
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