Silvio Berlusconi allegedly
recently paid for a lavish birthday party for the baby daughter
of the former underage prostitute he had sex with at bunga bunga
parties, investigators said Wednesday.
The 7,000-euro party paid in cash to former nightclub
dancer Ruby the Heartstealer was just one of several big cash
handouts the ex-premier made via various factotums, they said.
Another allegedly funded a nine-day Maldives holiday for
two people with an estimated cost of 60-90,000 euros, while Ruby
also spent large amounts on haute couture.
The handouts of 14-15,000 euros each were made by people
acting for Berlusconi in Milan and at Ruby's home in Genoa,
investigators said.
On Tuesday police searched the homes of Ruby and another 20
young women who attended the parties at Berlusconi's villa
outside Milan, in a probe into suspected bribes by the media
magnate for them to keep mum about the real, sexual nature of
the parties, prosecutors said.
All the women allegedly had a lifestyle out of all
proportion with their declared income, investigators said.
Unlike Ruby, who was paid by various people, all the others
were allegedly on the payroll of Berlusconi's trusted
'treasurer', Giuseppe Spinelli.
Berlusconi was cleared on appeal last year of knowingly
having sex with Ruby when she was 17, one year below the legal
age to be a sex worker.
Judges upheld the three-time premier's assertion he did not
know she was underage.
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