Bunga Bunga: Berlusconi 'Prostitute' In Court

A teenage former belly dancer who denies having sex with former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has given her version of events at his allegedly raunchy "bunga bunga" parties.

Karima El Mahroug, 19 - who also goes by the name of Ruby the heart stealer - told a court in Milan how a fellow guest dressed as a nun and then stripped to her underwear while performing a seductive dance.

She was giving evidence against three people accused of recruiting women for the parties and who Berlusconi is said to have paid with cash, jewellery and cars simply for turning up and spending the night with him.

Prosecutors claim that Miss El Mahroug was 17 when she was paid by the politician for sex and he is on trial separately in relation to that accusation.

In Italy, the age of consent is 14 but paying for sex with a woman under the age of 18 is considered underage prostitution and carries a three-year jail term.

Miss El Mahroug told how she had seen Nicole Minetti, an Anglo-Italian local councillor, accused of hiring the female guests, at a party and said: ''At one point I saw Nicole, dressed as a nun, she then took off her clothes and was left just in her underwear.''

Dressed in dark trousers, dark jacket and a scarf, Miss El Mahroug also told how other female guests at the party in Berlusconi's villa at Arcore near Milan, wore President Barack Obama masks and masks of a prosecutor called Ilda Boccassini, who has led many of the cases against the former prime minister.

She added: '''The women there told me that the parties were known as bunga bunga, they told me that it was a joke by Berlusconi.

"I never saw any physical contact between the women and Berlusconi. One girl, Marystelle Polanco, dressed as Obama and another - Ilda Boccassini - she even had a red wig and a black robe. Other women were dressed as sexy nurses and doctors and in the bunga bunga room there was a pole for dancing.

''They would approach him (Berlusconi) in a sensual way while they were dancing. They would lift their skirts but I never saw any physical contact. I was invited by Berlusconi to the Arcore evenings, I was in contact with him. Sometimes I would call and ask him what was for dinner.''

Miss El Mahroug also described how she was given money by Berlusconi at one party which took place on Valentine's Day.

''He gave me an envelope with between ?2,000-3,000 (£1,700-2,500) inside. He asked me if I would like him to help me. Berlusconi would always give me envelopes with cash - they were always ?500 banknotes. I must have been to his house five, six, seven times.''

The Moroccan-born teenager added: ''At the second party I went to, Berlusconi asked me if I wanted to stay the night. So I stayed and slept the night in a room on my own. I left very late the next afternoon after lunch.''

Miss El Mahroug also told the court how a few weeks later she received ?30,000 from Berlusconi's accountant, Giuseppe Spinelli.

''Again it was all ?500 banknotes," she said. "I had never seen so much money, for me it was ever such a lot.

"I'd told Berlusconi that it was my dream to open a beauty parlour and I was going to use the money for that, I hoped he would help me financially.''

Prosecutors say that at least 30 women attended the parties and were paid thousands of euros as well as given gifts of cars and jewellery for attending - with many hoping they would get a job on one of Berlusconi's numerous TV channels.

Miss Minetti, whose mother is English, is said to have recruited the women along with showbusiness agent Lele Mora and TV news anchorman Emilio Fede, a close personal friend of Berlusconi and all three are currently on trial accused of procuring prostitutes.

Miss El Mahroug told the court how she had met Fede at a beauty contest in Sicily and that he had then invited her to Milan where she met Mora and was asked to bring photographs of herself to the meeting.

She added: ''I told them my name was Ruby and I gave them a false surname, Eiek, an Egyptian singer. I told them I was 19 or 20 (at the time she was 17). I told them a load of lies. I said my mother was a famous singer and my father was related to (former Egyptian) President (Hosni) Mubarak.''

The trial is an offshoot of the hearing against Berlusconi in which he is accused of paying Miss El Mahroug for sex.

In that case, which is due to end next month, Berlusconi is also accused of abuse of office after he told police to release Miss El Mahroug, that she was related to President Mubarak and should be freed from custody after she was arrested on a ?3,000 theft charge.

Both Berlusconi and Miss El Mahroug have denied anything untoward took place at what he has insisted were simply ''elegant dinners".

The case against the three accused of hiring the women is expected to finish by the summer.

Later Miss El Mahroug told the court that she had been ''showing off'' when she was asked by the prosecution about a note found in a police raid on her apartment in which she had written that Berlusconi had given her ?5m.

She said: ''I was just bragging to friends. I never received ?5m from him.''

When asked if she had ever had sex with Berlusconi she also denied ever ''having intimate relations'' with him.

However, she did admit dancing for him at his parties, saying: ''I performed a belly dance, it was just the once and not sensual. I wore the clothes that Berlusconi had been given by (Colonel) Gadaffi."