Three-time Premier Silvio
Berlusconi said press reports claiming he had sex with minors
were ''crazy'' in wiretapped phone conversations with
businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini dating back to 2009.
The wiretaps were made public Thursday in a trial in the
southern city of Bari.
Hundreds of pages of phone transcripts from 2008 and 2009
released on Thursday are part of evidence in the trial in Bari
which sees Tarantini and six other defendants charged with
procuring prostitutes for the ex-premier's alleged sex parties.
Berlusconi is accused of bribing Tarantini to lie to
investigators probing the former premier's alleged sex parties,
allegedly including minors.
In the tapped conversations, Berlusconi told Tarantini that
the allegations were ''fabrications'' but also spoke of
''girls'' he wished were taken to one of parties, referring to a
young sports journalist at his Mediaset company and to a
21-year-old Brazilian woman.
He also slammed reports that he was presenting TV starlets
as election candidates for his Forza Italia party, praising
female party members as ''the best MPs'' in parliament.
''There is no showgirl in my list'', he lamented with
Tarantini.
''I am always full of trouble'', he complained in another
conversation with Tarantini, saying the media and judiciary were
out to get him.
''There is nothing I can do, I can only endure everything'',
he said.
Berlusconi and former Avanti newspaper editor Valter
Lavitola are charged with pressuring Tarantini to perjure
himself during the 2009 investigation into whether he provided
escorts and attractive women for alleged sex parties in the
private home of the ex-premier and billionaire media magnate in
2008 and 2009.
Prosecutors believe Berlusconi used Lavitola to pay
Tarantini 20,000 euros a month to keep quiet.
A Milan appeals court last July cleared Berlusconi of
paying for sex with an underage prostitute during sex parties,
saying there was no proof he knew the prostitute was 17 at the
time.
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