Italian official: Berlusconi won't quit in face of latest scandal

Jun 19, 2009, 10:00 GMT

Rome - The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has no intention to resign over the latest 'false' reports on his private life, an Italian cabinet minister said in a newspaper interview published Friday.

Defence Minister Iganzio La Russa, a senior member of Berlusconi's conservative People of Freedom Party, was referring to reports of a judicial probe on payments allegedly made to several women in exchange for attending parties hosted by the premier.

The revelations, initially made earlier this week by Italy's most respected newspaper, Corriere della Sera, threaten to embarass Berlusconi, who is scheduled to host the Group of Eight summit of the world's most developed economies in less than a month's time.

'In this campaign of false accusations against the premier ... everyone is going to be disappointed,' La Russa told Milan-based daily Il Giornale.

La Russa said there was 'no possibility' that Berlusconi would resign.

Asked by Il Giornale if early elections were likely, La Russa replied: 'the hypothesis of a vote, albeit remote, does not scare us.'

Italian news reports say prosecutors in the southern city of Bari have heard testimony from at least four women who allege they received money to attend parties at Berslusconi's residences in Rome and Sardinia.

Judicial authorities, according to news reports, are also in possession of tape recordings made by one of women, Patrizia D'Addario.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera published Wednesday, D'Addario alleged that the recordings prove her presence in the company of Berlusconi at a party held at the premier's private Palazzo Grazioli residence in Rome.

Bari prosecutors first came across evidence of a possible ring to recruit the female party-goers through wiretapped conversations in which payments to the women were allegedly discussed.

The intercepted conversations allegedly involve two Bari-based businessmen who were being monitored by authorities as part of an investigation on kickbacks in the state hospital sector.

Berlusconi has dismissed the reports as media 'trash'.

His lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, has said that even if the allegations were true, Berlusconi could not control the partners his male guests brought to Palazzo Grazioli or to his Sardinian residence Villa Certosa, and that the premier would have been at the very most an 'unwitting subject.'

But opposition lawmakers have called on Berlusconi to resign, accusing him of becoming a liability to state security, because, they say, through his party-going acquaintances, he has become vulnerable to blackmail.

The media magnate-turned-politician's personal life has been the focus of public scrutiny since late April, when a newspaper report revealed he had attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model.

Days later Berlusconi's wife Veronica Lario accused him of 'frequenting minors' and announced she was seeking a divorce.

Berlusconi has blamed a media 'conspiracy' and has denied having a 'spicy' affair with the woman.

On Tuesday, prosecutors in Rome indicated they would shelve an investigation on whether Berlusconi abused his position by using government flights to ferry guests to his luxury Villa Certosa in Sardinia.

That probe stemmed from pictures shot by a photographer at an airport near the Villa Certosa. The photographer also snapped scores of photos of Berlusconi and his guests at Villa Certosa, including a naked man and several topless women.

In late May, acting on a violation of privacy complaint lodged by Berlusconi's lawyers, prosecutors placed the photographer under investigation and seized hundreds of his photographs.