Live BlogTHE PRIME MINISTER of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, has admitted that he gave a teenage erotic dancer named ‘Ruby’ €45,000 – but he says it was so she could buy laser hair removal equipment.
Berlusconi is accused of having underage sex with Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby, when she was just 17, which is an offence under Italian law.
He is also charged with trying to cover up his connection with her by putting pressure on police to release her from custody after she was held on separate theft allegations.
He says he never paid for sex with Ruby and that he believed she was 24 years old.
It has emerged that Berlusconi thought that El Mahroug was the granddaughter of the former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, the Telegraph reports today.
Berlusconi is currently facing three corruption trials and the prostitution trial.
In court, Berlusconi said he took pity on El Mahroug because she had run away from home, and admitted to giving her tens of thousands of euro.
He said this money was to stop her from being forced into prostitution.
She hoped to open a beauty spa, and he gave her €45,000 to buy a laser hair removal machine.
Berlusconi was cheered on by supporters outside Milan courthouse yesterday.
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