ROME LETTER:The latest scandal involving Italy's prime minister may well be one too many for the Great Survivor, writes PADDY AGNEW
W ILL SILVIO “Houdini” Berlusconi do it yet again and get himself out of this one? Or could this be one scandal too many, the straw that finally broke the camel’s back?
“Rubygate”, the 74-year-old prime minister’s latest alleged sexual peccadillo, contains just about everything, positioning itself halfway between John Le Carré and Borat, with a touch of Benny Hill added in (if anyone is old enough to remember him).
Abuse of power, a possible diplomatic incident and semi- senile sexuality are just some of the ingredients.
The story begins on the evening of May 28th of this year, when 17-year-old Moroccan Karima El Mahroug, otherwise known as “Ruby”, is taken into police custody in Milan. Police had received a “113” emergency call from a certain Caterina P who claimed that Ruby had stolen €3,000 and some jewellery from her days earlier.
When the police go through the identification process of “Ruby”, it soon becomes apparent they know her. She is already on computerised police records. It has since transpired that she is one of a number of people who figure in an ongoing Milan-based investigation into a VIP prostitution ring.
Just as police are about to organise for the girl – known to them to be a runaway from a home in Messina, Sicily – to be consigned to a state home, something strange happens.
At around 11 that night, word comes down urgently from the chief of staff of Milan’s police chief. You are to let that girl go and you are to hand her over to Nicole Minetti, a Lombardy regional councillor.
The 25-year-old Minetti herself merits a serious mention, if for nothing else other than her meteoric rise in political life. Last winter, she was a dental hygienist working in Milan’s San Raffaele hospital when she was called on to treat no less than prime minister Berlusconi, then having treatment for his teeth following a violent attack by a mentally disturbed man in Milan just before Christmas.
Ex-dancer and “show girl” Minetti did not pass unnoticed. Thanks to Berlusconi’s sponsorship, she was inserted into the Freedom Party (PDL) list for the Lombardy regional elections, winning a seat last April.
Media reports allege the change of plan re Ruby was motivated by phone calls that chief of staff Pietro Ostuni had received from Berlusconi in person.
The premier claimed the girl was a relative of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and that were she to be detained, it could provoke a serious diplomatic incident.
Furthermore, Berlusconi indicated that Minetti was the adult to whom the police could safely “consign” Ruby.
Sure enough, Minetti did indeed turn up at the police station in the early hours of May 28th to collect Ruby. But after the two women had spoken briefly on the phone with Berlusconi, Minetti then left Ruby in the care of a certain Coincecao Santos Oliveira, a Brazilian model.
Needless to say, the story does not end there. For a start, there is the now infamous “bunga, bunga” factor. During questioning this summer, Ruby told magistrates that she had attended parties at Berlusconi’s Milan residence at Arcore, parties involving the prime minister and lots of young women. These were enlivened by an erotic post-prandial moment known as the “bunga, bunga”.
The problem about all of this is that it sounds very similar to tales told last summer by call-girl Patrizia D’Addario, subsequently corroborated by other women, of late-night sexy parties in Berlusconi’s private Rome and Sardinian residences.
And, even as the Ruby case rages, an ongoing investigation in Palermo has raised further concerns about Berlusconi’s “busy” night life. Perla Genovesi, a 32-year-old former PDL activist arrested last July on charges of cocaine trafficking, has told stories that sound very familiar to those told by Patrizia D’Addario and by Ruby.
Berlusconi has, of course, brushed off the allegations of impropriety.
Talking to reporters in Brussels last Friday, he called the Ruby story a media “invention” and denied he had exerted any pressure on the Milan police.
At the same time, the prime minister did appear to admit he had been involved in the case, saying he had tried to “help”. As for his busy after-hours schedule, he said: “I live a terrible life . . . now and again, I need a relaxing evening as a mental therapy to rid the mind of worries. . . ”
Unfortunately for Berlusconi, a police report of July 28th claims the police chief of staff had been contacted by the prime minister’s office on the night of May 28th to inform him that the girl was “a relative of President Mubarak” and should “not be detained”. The police report does not indicate who made the phone call.
Needless to say, despite Berlusconi's denials, important people are not amused. Influential Catholic weekly, Famiglia Cristiana, has written of a "sick" prime minister who is "out of control".
Almost all opposition forces have called on the prime minister to resign. Even a faithful ally such as Northern League leader Umberto Bossi is openly talking about the imminent demise of the Berlusconi government.
Could this indeed be one scandal too far for the Great Survivor – three times prime minister and in politics since 1994?