Italy's Berlusconi: 'I Have Never Paid for a Woman'
June 24, 2009— -- Italian lothario and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has lashed out at reports that women were paid to spend the night at his home by announcing he has "never paid for a woman."
Berlusconi made the comments to Italian gossip magazine Chi in response to claims by a former model, Patrizia D'Addario, that she had been paid to attend his private parties.
Calling the reports "trash" the Italian prime minister hit back by saying D'Addario had been paid to smear him.
''Behind Patrizia D'Addario is someone who is out to get me and she (Patrizia) has been paid well, they have a deliberate campaign against me," he charged.
In a statement to the ANSA news agency, D'Addario denied she had been paid to create a scandal.
But the 42-year-old showgirl has caused a stir claiming to have spent the night at the premier's house and that she has pictures allegedly showing Berlusconi's bedroom as well as secretly recorded video and audio tapes of their encounters.
Berlusconi scoffed at her allegations.
"I've never paid for a woman. I don't understand what satisfaction there is unless it's linked to the happiness of winning someone over," he said.
But since D'Addario went public, two other women have come forward with similar stories involving Berlusconi.
D'Addario has now given her tapes to prosecutors in the southern Italian town of Bari who are investigating the claims that these women were paid to attend parties at the prime minister's residence.
A businessman in Bari, Giampaolo Tarantini, is under investigation for alleged links to prostitution and delivering the women to Berlusconi's home.
Tarantini claims to have merely reimbursed the women for their travel and expenses and maintains that Berlusconi didn't know these expenses were paid.
In the magazine interview Berlusconi would not be drawn into commenting on the Tarantini investigation, saying, like every other Italian citizen, he was innocent until proven guilty.
Despite the recent flurry of newspaper reports and questions surrounding Berlusconi's "friendships" with young women, the Italian prime minister remains unrepentant.
