(ANSA) - Milan, June 30 - Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi
spent millions of euros bribing exotic dancer and alleged
underage prostitute Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby to keep mum about
his alleged sex parties, Milan prosecutors said Tuesday.
In return for huge sums, they said, the former teen
runaway falsely denied having sex with the media magnate at his
villa outside Milan.
The prosecutors said they believed that Berlusconi
corrupted Ruby, who was at the centre of the 'bunga bunga' sex
scandal, to give favourable evidence at criminal trials,
transferring funds amounting to some seven million euros to her
which she used for various purposes.
Berlusconi said the claims were "another attempt by the
Milan prosecutor's office to build accusations against me based
on nothing".
He said he had already been cleared of the charges in the
other trials.
The prosecutors have completed the so-called Ruby Ter
(Ruby Three) case probe into allegations Berlusconi bribed
witnesses to perjure themselves during two trials.
The ex-premier, Ruby and several other women who took part
in so-called 'bunga bunga' parties at Berlusconi's home have
been notified the investigation is closed.
This step usually comes before prosecutors request
indictments.
Last year the supreme court definitively cleared the
78-year-old billionaire of underage prostitution charges in the
main case because it said there was no proof Berlusconi knew
Ruby was 17 at the time - one year under the legal limit for sex
workers.
The court said, however, that "paid acts of a sexual
nature" took place between Berlusconi and Ruby, whose real name
is Karima El Marough.
She alleged used the money he gave her to set up a
restaurant in Mexico, among other things, prosecutors allege.
El Marough's former partner Luca Risso is suspected of
laundering the seven million euros, the sources said.
The case against two long-serving Berlusconi lawyers,
Niccolò Ghedini and Piero Longo, is set to be dropped as they
were not among the people notified of the end of the
investigation.
Ruby allegedly falsely denied having sex with Berlusconi
and falsely denied agreeing to accept the "enormous" sums of
money from him to 'act mad' and deny his "elegant parties" were
of a sexual nature, prosecutors said.
Berlusconi, they said, paid more than 20 girls for their
silence on his alleged bunga bunga sex parties from November
2011 "until yesterday".
Investigations began in January 2014 after Milan judges
published their reasons for separate first-instance convictions
of Berlusconi and of former TV anchor Emilio Fede, ex-talent
scout Lele Mora and dental-hygienist-turned Lombardy councillor
Nicole Minetti for pimping for the three-time premier.
Berlusconi was subsequently acquitted on appeal last July
on grounds there was no proof he knew Ruby was 17 at the time,
while the convictions of Fede, Mora and Mienti were upheld on
appeal in November.
Berlusconi spent millions corrupting Ruby - prosecution
Moroccan 'falsely denied having sex' with ex-premier