Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi, who is already being investigated for corruption, is now facing allegations that he gave money to a seventeen-year-old Moroccan model after she participated in an erotic after dinner event at his Milan villa.
The model, now aged eighteen and known only as “Ruby”, was arrested on 27th May after being accused of stealing jewellery and other items from the apartment of a girl she had met at a Milan discotheque. Discovering that Ruby’s documents were not in order, that she had no fixed address and had apparently stolen from her own family in Messina, the police were making preparations to have her taken into care when they received several telephone calls from Mr Berlusconi’s office, telling them that Ruby was related to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek and that they were to let her go.
Whilst the police were puzzling over why the Premier’s office should be interested in the case, there was another arrival at their premises which surprised them: it was Nicole Minetti, Mr Berlusconi’s dental hygienist who became a councillor for the Lombardy region. Miss Minetti apparently said that she would take responsibility for Ruby and finally the girl was released under her care. Once outside the police station, says Ruby, Miss Minetti called the Premier, who wished Ruby well.
Ruby now says that earlier this year she was introduced to Mr Berlusconi through show business agent Lele Mora and television executive and journalist Emilio Fede. She alleges that she was taken to the Villa San Martino, Mr Berlusconi’s residence outside Milan, several times and participated in an after dinner erotic ritual which the Premier allegedly called “bunga bunga”, a term he had learned from Libyan President Muammar al-Gaddafi. Ruby also says that Elisabetta Canalis, George Clooney and politician Daniela Santanché were present during her third visit.
Ruby alleges that Mr Berlusconi gave her money and jewellery after she stayed the night at the villa. She also says that he promised to buy her a fitness centre and encouraged her to say that she was related to President Mubarek.
Italian magistrates are now trying to ascertain the truth – not an easy task when it comes to Ruby, who admits to having told the Premier that she was twenty-four years old, not seventeen - and have stressed that Mr Berlusconi is not under investigation in the case. However, even if the story turns out to be an attempt to blackmail the Premier or a publicity stunt by Ruby, the Italian press are asking questions about the vulnerability of Silvio Berlusconi with regard to his private life and whether this reflects upon the stability of government itself.
